Rott£n – 8 November 2024, Sheffield University Drama Studio
Review by Peter Taranaski.
“Rott£n”, a new play by Josie White, directed by Rikki Beadle Blair, is a play that tells us that outward appearances can be deceiving. It opens with three women Saoirse (Nicole Taggart), Coco (Narisha Lawson), and Sonia (Kavita Vyas) who have made a pact to cheap it for a year; to stay in London and make their big breaks as actresses. Things are looking grim as the power is going off, there isn’t much money, and all that’s left to eat is Rice Krispies. Together they share in their misery by spying on a nearby Instagram celebrity, Iris Montague-Willis (Alice Berry), a person with inherited wealth whose success and fortune is to the envy of the aspiring actresses.
One day when they witness something incriminating, they join with Sonia’s dodgy on-and-off boyfriend Ross (Sam Butters) in a blackmail plot with the intention that money will make their lives better. From there the friendship is examined and the thread of their shared poverty-stricken lives is truly unravelled. Much like aluminium foil, our friendships can appear glittering and purposeful in the oven of life, but when things the heat gets really testing that they can be brittle and thin.
“Rott£n” has a youthful core and spirit. There is a liberal dash of swearing, and the struggles of the characters to manage financially and get themselves known comes through strong. In terms of tone, Wright has collaborated with Blair here to create a work that has is going for the feeling of the best of Tarantino’s smaller, powder-keg films like Reservoir Dogs. It is also highly characterised with the bitterness, infighting and pressures of class of the Trainspotting, with the last third being an inspiration. Class takes centre stage alongside issues of sexuality, mental health and social media with all the characters having their motivations and a chance to say their piece in monologue. This starts from the off with Saoirse’s opening speech about her disgust for her neighbours online lifestyle and progresses to Ross’ political rant on “cunting” ruling class, and later Iris’ defence of her privilege. The play makes some inroads into discussing these issues too, particularly when it comes to how a class is judged by it’s actions, and how different classes seize power through risky, illegal actions or through deviance to their parents’ control. The play is quite poignant when it comes to how society/family’s attitudes to sexuality shapes a person as well, kudos to Narisha Lawson who carries this aspect.
As for the set design, it is minimal but not too much so. You expect there to be a bit of litter and dirt, the well used sofa and that kind of thing; but it is refreshing that it is not a grimy set. It conveys the sense that the friends are outwardly “cosy” and that the flat is their safe place; the discord is hidden slightly out of view. When Ross arrives with his bag containing a gun, the “cosiness” and safety of their bubble is broken immediately as the outside temptation, fear and lust for money is thrown into the centre stage.
It is a play deeply seated in that old theme of treachery and greed but playing out within a foreground of modern issues that go further than just that of class. Everyone does a good acting job here be it Taggart’s snark, Vyas’ neuroticism, Lawson’s practicality, Berry’s restraint and Butters’ duplicity. It is at times frenetic but amongst this there are some slower character moments that give the play some nice changes that allow the comedy to come through a bit more. Everyone is fleshed out, relatable and real and the “slice of life” of these young women is very believable. Our only niggle is that we found one plot point about someone being “hit over the head” (more than once) a little mixed in how it how it lands; the second time it comes across a bit like slapstick in a play that up to this point hasn’t taken this road (to us anyway).
“Rott£n” is worth seeing. As a starter for examining young pressures, class, sexuality and such like, it is a decent entry. It’s strengths are in it’s flawed characters, how well they are established and interact, and how the play tackles it’s change from light to dark in nature as it progresses.