Tipsy is the story of Maria, a young woman with a boss who won’t give her time away from work, a boyfriend who is cheating on her and not a minute to herself. She books herself a nail appointment as a way of having time off. However this bar serves alcohol and she ends up getting very “tipsy!” and behaving quite out of character.
This show was written and produced by Edie Waywyn. I believe from the introduction given, that the rehearsal time had been very short, but I have to say this was not apparent as the cast were all amazing in their individual roles.
On my arrival, the Cockpit Theatre was lovely, an unexpected treasure just hiding on the street. I was made very welcome and the staff were extremely helpful. On entry to the auditorium, I realised it was “in the round”. There was no allocated seating, so I sat in the front. A good choice for view but not for comfort as my feet did not reach the floor.
The cast were very good with utilizing the round and continually walked around the edges making sure the entire audience got a good view of the action. The only scenery is a dustbin initially and I wondered how that would work but with very clever use of cast moving through the busy streets and Maria being lost and unheard amongst them; it was ideal. On Maria’s arrival at the nail bar, they cleverly and easily converted to nail salon.
Costume design is based around your normal everyday clothing, but this worked well to put spotlight on the different characters that each actor was portraying. The lighting was used very well to show the passing of time and highlight specific scenes. One negative was the sound, both times Maria took a telephone call in the street, the street noise was good but too loud and I could not hear what was being said.
Standout performance comes from Jac Norris as Charlie, the nail bar receptionist as he made me laugh all the time with just a gesture or a facial expression. Furthermore, Lima Amil as Mariana had such great expression. It was obvious that she hated everything about Maria but as she was her paying customer, she did her best to be polite and welcoming.
I was a little lost with some of the smaller storylines but overall the message was clear and very well portrayed by Zara Waywyn playing Maria. Her facial expressions right from the start all the way through were brilliant. The fact that she also directed this show is amazing as she was in the thick of it all throughout.
This show does have a few laugh out loud moments but I overall gave this three stars as I believe that this is show is targeted for a younger audience, who are more likely to resonate with aspects of the storyline.
Tipsy plays at the Cockpit Theatre until 17th June - for more tickets and information, you can follow the link here.
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AD | gifted ticket in return for an honest review