Sitting above The Bedford Arms in Balham, Theatre N16 is currently home to Tom Stenton’s Swifties – a twenty-first century reimagining of Jean Genet’s The Maids.

Directed by Luke Davies, Swifties explores the world of social media and celebrity fetishism from a ‘filthy bedsit’ in Luton. Yasmin and Nina (Isabella Niloufar and Tanya Cubric), work in an Amazon ‘fulfilment centre’, are Taylor Swift’s biggest fans, and have just won a competition to meet the celebrity herself. Together, they travel between reality and fantasy – a whirlwind of false rape allegations and murderous intent, all the while controlling the climate of their game with a playlist that shuffles between Taylor Swift, Chariots of Fire and Survivor’s ‘Eye of The Tiger’.

As the audience take their seats on three sides of a long, rectangular stage, Yasmin and Nina dance to Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’. Pink LED lights snake across the floor and a black duffel bag sits centre stage. Once unzipped, accessories and items of clothing are produced from inside: silver boots, a blonde wig, and a spangled gold playsuit soon find themselves draped across every available surface. Designed by JP Thwaites, the music and sound is controlled via a tablet computer laid out ceremoniously alongside two iPhones.

The stage is so small that once the duffel bag is unloaded it doesn’t take a lot to fill it to capacity. Chaos is repeatedly packed and unpacked, adding to the unrelenting confusion within Stenton’s competitive narrative – already a story without room for two. The design elements add to the obscure presence of both reality and unreality within the script.

The audience are seated in such a way that they are always able to see their fellow spectator. This serves as a constant reminder of the event as a performance, and therefore anchors any possible suspension of disbelief. The theme of reality and fantasy was hammered in further by the juxtaposition of a tin foil dagger and a pot of prescription medication – its contents chased by diet coke. The frequency with which this theme could be found within the piece quickly became patronising, and to echo the soft snores of a man in the row behind, tiresome.

As the piece continued, the identities of both characters changed repeatedly, making the act of spectating an arduous task. This, no doubt, is a reflection on its source material (both Cubric and Niloufar would have benefited from a more succinct directorial approach to character work).

The performance concluded with one of the girls lying in a medicated sleep and the other donning ‘Tay-Tay’s’ signature blonde wig. She begins to sing ‘The Outside’, another of Swift’s popular numbers and unblinking, thrusts her hand into the lap of an audience member. Breaking the fourth wall in this final stabbing of fantasy and reality felt meaningless, as by this point the dramatic device had been used so frequently that it was now rendered blunt.

Swifties does not lack potential, and although it is clear what the company were trying to achieve, it falls short. The entire experience felt like an unwelcome folie à deux, or to quote Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’, “a nightmare dressed like a daydream”.

Swifties is playing at Theatre N16 until 11 March. For more information and tickets, see here.

Photo by Luke Davies