Review: WHERE THE HEART IS by Really! Theatre at Etcetera Theatre 24 & 25 August / Camden Fringe

‘successfully conveys the feelings of moving away from childhood roots to adulthood’ ★★★

A perfect show for Camden Fringe which provides a great opportunity for an emerging company to get their work out there.  "WHERE THE HEART IS is a story about a long-distance queer relationship between Bea (living in a seaside town in England) and Guillaume (in Paris). After the pair fall in love results, Bea starts to consider leaving their hometown with all that entails."  The three friends of the lovers complete the characters of the play.

The play is devised by the company who have found a very clever way to describe the feelings of moving away from childhood roots. Firstly, they chalk the town on the floor and then gradually it’s whipped away, and in doing this some part of Bea’s former life is strangely also erased.  It does successfully convey the feelings of change or loss, those strangely mixed emotions which are actually hard to qualify. The fantastic visuals used by the company help to do the job perfectly.

Other matters also explored successfully in the show include queer identity, homeland and language. There is also a very sympathetic handling of Guillaume coming out to his father. The response in the audience could be felt as a kind of empathy which really showed that on that particular night the show had reached its target audience.

The acting was a little bit uneven in places, but there were some charming portrayals.  Bea played by Ell Thompson was a delightful character and Goda Liutkutė as Ūla also shone. 

Overall, this is a promising start for this young company.

Twitter @ReallyTheatre

Image credit: Dominic Daniels

The cast is as follows:

Ell Thompson - BEA

Joseph Stanton - GUILLAUME

Goda Liutkutė - ŪLA

Mencía Santos Echart - BÁRBARA

Tia Huband – CHARLOTTE

Reviewed by Heather Jeffery, Editor of London Pub Theatres Magazine