Four lads, three egos, two closeted gays and one Duke of Edinburgh trip gone wrong. When rugby lads Baxter, Lewis, Kieran, and teacher’s pet Peter get lost in the Scottish Highlands, it’s game over for the alpha-male personas they show to the world as secrets, sorrow, and sex punctuate a day of disaster before escape is found.
‘Let’s talk about the big fat misogynistic elephant in the room’: a play satirising the shortcomings of the modern man through a gay love story between rugby boys stranded in the middle of nowhere? …Really? Yes, really. Witty and warm, writer and co-director Grace Donaldson weaves a superbly sardonic snapshot of morality, leadership, loyalty, and identity. The play begins with a tense game of rugby toss and ends in a wolf chase, but the time that elapses in between holds romance beyond the imagination of most Duke of Edinburgh expeditioners. Lewis, the rugby team’s captain (Lola Gibbons), and vice-captain Kieran (Eadaoin Casey) realise a lad-to-lad connection that runs deeper than their banter on the field back at school. Sparks fly, but according to Lewis, ‘That’s like as non-homophobic as you can actually get without being gay… which we’re not.’ I’ll leave you to reflect on their self-acceptance journey when you see it…
Why girls though? I hear you ask. Donaldson and assistant director Sophie Gattis’ idea to cross-cast their show was born from a previous project of Donaldson’s. When at a loose end for a male-presenting actor to play a male-written part, casting a girl in the role unexpectedly led to more comedy gold than ever. Donaldson told me she loved this twist and leant into the opportunity for Lads. In intentionally writing this new piece with cross-casting in mind, an excellent comedic canvas through which to tell the story is formed.
The production itself is wonderfully open and accessible, performed in theSpace at Niddry Street’s Upper Theatre, with its thrust stage enticing all audience members into the action no matter where one sits. With minimal set and props, and costumes you could catch audience members in, the focus is drawn completely on Donaldson’s witty writing and the hilarious performances of the cast.
Ranked by all four performers as a 9/10 on the civility-to-chaos scale, and containing a plethora of pop culture references, Lads is a play for the girls, the guys, and the gays, (about gays, by girls). The production team say they’ve loved the support and connections they’ve gained from other queer theatre makers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Humourously riffing on the themes of its inspiration Lord of the Flies (with a hot twist), Lads is the show to watch at this year’s Fringe, having been hand-picked from the talent of Student Theatre at Glasgow (STAG), and produced by newly elected STAG president Fergus Kane. Check out @ladsoftheflies on Instagram for more info and finally, lads, get yourself to Niddry Street before Lads’ closing night on August 10th.
[Steph Wells, she/her]
[Instagram: @sstephwellss]
qmunicatemagazine.co.uk 