REVIEW: Fool for Love at The Courtyard Theatre

A stones throw away from Old Street station is the Courtyard Theatre or as I like to call it ‘The theatre Shoreditch adjacent’. I was told about the premise of this play and had to see it. The courtyard theatre is humble space and with a friendly vibe to it. Like any fringe theatre the performance space is an open black box space. The set was minimal, a chair, table with drink on, a window hung in mid air and a double bed in the middle of the room. 

We’re drawn first to The Old Man (Brian Voakes) who walks around the stage turning lights on. We’re already caught midst a confrontational conversation with two lovers in a motel room. The tense moment resolves into an ongoing conflict with the central characters May and Eddie, played by Lucy Bailie and Joe Windsor respectively. Their relationship is dipped in and out of with the use of flashbacks and storytelling and really stirs something within, bordering on the uncomfortable. 

REVIEW: You Forgot the Mince at Courtyard Theatre

Rose (Francesca Joy) lives in Leeds with her grandmother Lily (Ursula Mohan) and, fresh out of college, has exciting plans for the future. After the summer, she wants to move to London and go to university to become a journalist but, during the school break, she meets Nico (Prince Plockey), a door-to-door window seller who works on commission, and falls madly in love with him.

The bond between them appears immediately intense, as we see them snuggling and play-fighting in Rose's living room. With a combination of spoken word and physical performance we're projected fast forward into Rose's first year in London, when her academic achievements clash with Nico's personal failures. After being arrested, he spends 12 months in prison, whereas Rose struggles to fit her commitments whilst attempting to maintain their relationship.

When Nico is released, the couple decides to move in together, but the already tormented situation doesn't show any signs of improvement and the young man manifests a disturbed attitude that quickly escalates from verbal to physical abuse. Trapped between Nico's false promises that he'll change and ashamed to share her troubles with her grandma, Rose becomes increasingly withdrawn, eventually developing a severe psychological disorder.