Threesome combats the intense controversy of partaking in, you guessed it, a threesome. The Laboratory Company and new writer Jamie Patterson have created a swift comedy in which couple, Sam and Kate, approach Lucy at a club. They’re facing some relationship problems; they’re in a ‘rut’ and both enter into the situation hoping they can try something new and fun.

The casting is well done, with April Pearson (who appeared in Skins) lined up to play sassy Lucy, she brings her stereotypical straight-talking persona to the character. Chris Willoughby, playing Sam, is a strong comedic actor, who brings his own strengths to the piece. He uses his own comedic devices, although sometimes this can contrast with the writing and we find the two fighting against each other. Gemma Rook, as Kate, bounces off of them both as a tightly wound stick-in-the-mud.

Patterson creates some cheeky comedic moments, lining up for some great laughs throughout the piece. Although the writing is delivered well, the character arcs and overall story is slightly jaunty. I appreciate it is hard to find a strong balance between the comedy and the story, and the team have done their best with this.

The Union Theatre is the perfect place for the piece as a low budget and an intimate setting. Because of the small space, the actors fail to create the high stakes and intensity we need for the comedy to be wholly effective. It wouldn’t have been out of place for the actors to take their characters into excess, reflecting the high pressure environment. However, Lucy talks about sex so casually that we also begin to relax into the situation, and suddenly it’s not so taboo. The situation could have benefitted from being kicked up a notch and it would have made it even funnier.

The play is extremely short, coming in at under an hour including the short film projected at the beginning. It definitely reached a point where I felt like we were scrabbling for subject matter and we were all screaming for them to just get to it, but I understand they wanted to limit the scene changes and possible nudity. But it was all resolved very easily, and again I think if the playwright had added some pressure he could have taken this comedy to another level.

Overall it was a strong play and hilariously funny, if a little too short and sweet.

 

Threesome is playing Union Theatre until 14th of May. For more information and tickets, see The Union Theatre website.