Cowboys and Lesbians by Billie Esplen. Park 90, Clifton Terrace, London N4 to 09 March 2024.

4✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“Funny, perceptive account of queer love at home - and on the range.”

Noa and Nina are a pair of seventeen year olds sitting in the park talking about life and things in general and imagining a story about life on the range in which a young woman falls for the new cowhand while in real life they are falling for one another. It is performed beautifully by Georgia Vivyan as Nina, the big, bouncy one, and Julia Pilkington as Nina, the smaller and actually tougher of the two although to start with they had some problems getting the size of the room right – in other words they were not coming across with the necessary clarity of speech. They got better as the evening went on but it is not an unusual problem – Rose Bruford and Central School might look at how they teach voice. It is one thing learning how to hit the back of the Gods and still sound like speaking normally but speaking more or less normally should be possible in a space like Park 90 and be perfectly clear. It is all about coming to terms with one’s sexuality and one watches as they talk about sex, about teachers – Noa has a crush on one of the men – and finding love, conjuring up the paperback tale of life on the range as the go along. The scenes in real life are interrupted as they perform the tale of how Nina as the small feisty new ranch hand falls for Noa as the strapping daughter of the house – Vyvyan also plays the abusive brother boss. The way the pair switch genders is a delight to watch. As a queer theatre piece it is hard to fault. This transfer from the fringe at Edinburgh is well deserved and the patently queer audience clearly recognised lots of experiences they too had shared. There is a clever set by Esme Solomon lit to Jamie Platt so that one moves seamlessly from the park bench where the girls are slowly realising that they need look no further to find love and the ranch house with its washing line of underwear and a downtrodden daughter of the house also finding love.

Cast

Georgia Vyvyan – Noa.

Julia Pilkington – Nina.

Creatives

Director - Billie Esplen.

Set Designer – Esme Solomon.

Lighting Designer – Jamie Platt.