REVIEW: IT’S GONNA BE ME by Evie Killip at Old Red Lion Theatre 8 – 12 April 2025
‘Cat and mouse comedy with smart dialogue and intense precision’ ★★★★
A relationship comedy but hardly a romcom, this laugh out loud drama, is more about the lies we tell ourselves and others. Set in the present, Keira and Rory haven’t seen each other since their university grad week more than a decade ago. She’s excited about the visit and when he arrives the romance seems promising but there’s an undercurrent.
Old Red Lion currently favours dark drama and comedy which sits really well in the quirky space and the run-down pub below. With new owners now having taken over the hostelry, will we see a refurbishment which changes the atmosphere upstairs? Difficult to say, but for the moment at least, the marriage is impeccable.
The writing by Evie Killip is well observed and gives moment by moment nuances to the cat and mouse of deciding on where the evening is going. Is this a burgeoning of passion, a new blossoming of long-term commitment or a casual thing. The play shows us the winner and the loser, with smart dialogue and intense precision.
The story moves from present day to flash backs, so audiences need to keep up but the play never patronises its audiences. It’s the kind of show that has some audiences convinced of the story its telling based on where they are coming from themselves and others slightly confused but nevertheless impressed with a subtext which they allows them to grapple with what just happened!
Actors Evie Killip (Doctors BBC Studios, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Rowan Polonski (The Comedy of Errors RSC/Barbican Theatre, The Hypocrite RSC) bring it on. She’s all vulnerability, extremely messy and no stranger to failure. He’s far more successful, slick and inviting. Together they are dynamite.
The black box set is one to navigate in the small space but direction from Alice Brittain, making her directorial debut, is happily in tune with the overall concept, giving us a dream like effect for the flash backs and letting the story breath.
There’s no melodrama here, it really is a slice of life and yet the occasional shocking line has us all reeling with amused distaste. It’s a young audience who ‘get’ all the references, but it’s also a show for anyone at all who remembers romancing, whether they miss it or not. The inner turmoil and developing situations provide much to laugh about and yet, also perhaps, gives us all a bit of a wake-up call.
Photography: Reanne Anad
IT’S GONNA BE ME by Evie Killip at Old Red Lion Theatre 8 – 12 April 2025
Written by Evie Killip
Directed by Alice Brittain
Cast
Keira: Evie Killip
Rory: Rowan Polonski
Kath (voice): Olivia Bernstone
Lighting and Tech Designer: Katie Coyne
Produced by Medium Rare
