Harry by Caitlin McEwan is a play about me, and a play about you. It speaks directly to the little inner stalker inside all of us.

At the beginning of the play, the audience is invited to a tea party with a ‘cool’ teenage vibe, inclusive of actual tea and biscuits (if you are one of the lucky people sitting in the front row). It’s not all too surprising when One Direction songs start playing in the background, turning every single person into  a teenage fan girl, singing along to the infamous lyrics, not too loud though, a light breeze of shame blows gently through the colorful room, as a reminder that you are NOT supposed to like those guys.

Caitlin and Sophie (played by Caitlin McEwan and Sophie McQuillan) evoke every 18 years old who is starting at university. They build a friendship on their common passion for One Direction and specifically one of the members of the band: Harry Styles. Young, cool hair cut, descreet vocals and a real life lived on social media: a real prince charming to our characters.

The play is a journey towards adulthood and about how two very different girls approach life and its difficulties. They learn how to deal with delusion, obsessions and unrealistic expectations brought into their life through the channels of Twitter, Facebook and Google, where everything they need to and want to know about a celebrity is just a click away. McEwan and McQuillan’s characters are so believable and relatable, that you will start to see elements of yourself in them, no matter if you are a 1D fan or  not.

My ears do start to bleed when Sophie compares 1D to the Beatles, but later on, sitting on the night bus on my way home, thinking about that line ‘That could have been me’ I realised that she is right. People have developed obsessions for celebrities since the dawn of time, the only difference is that nowadays it’s just easier.

Sophie and Caitlin grow to be different though, where one of them can’t let go a fan girl fantasy to love a perfect stranger that internet made so familiar, the other one matures into adulthood, leaving it all behind. The friendship that seemed having a strong foundation, falls into pieces when the epic battle of reality versus fantasy finally begins.

Poor Michelle Productions is a new and fresh theatre company at their debut with great potential, strong acting base and hilarious facial expressions skills (my absolute favourite). So we better keep an eye on those girls, I can tell they’re going to go far.

Harry is playing at N16 Theatre until 14 April. For tickets and more information, visit the N16 website.

Photo: Ellie Gauge