Jake Mace
Seven minutes in heaven meets seven hours till the end of the World. Eddie and Jo are two queer flatmates who met in a cupboard at a party as freshers at university, and now they find themselves watching the end of the World as they know it together. The Nuclear button has been pressed, nobody can leave their home – Eddie & Jo go through their love lives and platonic friendships together as they wait for it all to be over, with a few games of Pictionary thrown in for good measure.
The piece weaves sections of audio from the pair’s first meeting with some gorgeously near-realistic acting from Elise Busset’s Jo and Cosimo Asvisio’s Eddie. The chemistry between the couple is genuinely electric, and they deliver a gorgeous representation of what platonic love is, how it can sometimes almost tingle into romantic love, and what grounds those who share living spaces together. Little annoyances, quirks, feelings, and invading each other’s space in a time of crisis. All of it feels so visceral, and allows the moments of lightness and comedy to shine throughout.
Their queer identities are explored in a multifaceted sense throughout the narrative, never needing to be explained as one thing or another – fluid, but eventually for Eddie, at least, seemingly fixed. The arc of the pair’s identities lightly touches on how exploration can be a good thing, and utilises some good Queer humour along the way, explored in a fresh and fun manner.
Both performances are remarkably polished – Asvisio teases out a pervading sense of charm from Eddie’s dry wit and seeming tiredness of his living situation. Busset’s performance sings in a register of bubbliness that breaks into identity crisis beneath the surface. The pair play off of each other extremely well, their moments of platonic physical touch feeling natural and refined, their dialogue delivered seemingly almost offhand, engrossing the audience in a fabulous sense that we’re really in the room with these characters.
For a piece about time, and how much of it we have left, it’s remarkable just how much this show hums. The characters are unclear what to do with their time left, flitting from parlour games to cooking, and later boozing it up for the sake of it. We are sat with moments for just the right length of time that it all feels palpable, soft, enchanting. We really take time to get to know each of these characters as people, and delving into their personal histories feels like a real pleasure, as the audience meanwhile cheers Eddie on for successfully throwing grapes into his mouth from afar.
It’s testament to the script, crafted by lead writer Jessica Tabraham, that we can feel lost in these two’s lives for a little while, and wonder in sparkling anticipation with them how those last minutes will play out. Beautifully sentimental moments like Eddie drawing the view from his childhood bedroom window draw focus on the passing of time, where our true home is, who we really feel comfortable around – lovers or platonic partners?
Sections of audio flashing back to the seven minutes in heaven sometimes feel a little under-utilised, as we see in the half-light the actors paused in motion. While performed well, I think they pervade the narrative a little too often to allow seamless flow between the moments.
Recommended Drink: Kick open a Birra Moretti with Jo and prepare for the end of it all (I was not paid for this promotion, and I presume Love Song weren’t either!)
You can catch Seconds to Midnight until August 26th (not the 14th or 21st) from 11:45 at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker One. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
