Jake Mace
Maybe This Time pulls together a collection of stories about love told through the main narrative string of two lovers meeting in a karaoke bar in Dundee. Our two young protagonists bond over an ephemeral shared love of music, and certain songs seem to trace their journey falling fervently for one another – but how soon is too soon to say ‘I love you’? While one in the couple has bared all for her boyfriend, he seems to be holding back. Can the two meet in the middle, or is it all too soon for him to share the more intimate details of his troubled personal life with someone else?
The piece hums with a sense of depth exploring this relationship forthrightly. The chemistry between the two central actors – Benjamin Asensio and Rebecca Ross – is powerfully rich. They come across as an entirely believable couple and also as fully formed, three-dimensional characters. Ross delivers a sensitive, caring, but also hedonistic and self-assured young woman keen to find the one. Her performance reaches a high note in a speed dating scene which analyses the oddness of the format. Her facial expressions are on point throughout this scene, and it’s a deftly crafted theatrical moment.
Asensio, who also wrote and directed the piece, offers up a well-formed aloof and awkward yet well-meaning young musician, who flutters in between desperately trying to reach out to his girlfriend and feeling the unmistakable pull to withdraw and hide himself away. The relationship’s arc is delivered with sentimentality and the story is put across with smart, fast ethos. The whole thing is caked in references to Dundonian culture, in a way that both situates the piece geographically and culturally but also draws in on it to unlock some hysterical comedic moments.
The comedy that runs through the piece is a little hit-and-miss. A subplot about a marriage that seems to replicate famous movie plots is a little undercooked, and there isn’t sufficient comedic tension built up to land every punchline. In sections, the show aims to be laugh-a-minute, and it feels as though Cor’ Blimey should take some more moments to breathe, and let the audience breathe, so we can connect with both the comedy and emotive moments with greater clarity.
Maybe This Time draws focus on the media we consume and how it can background the key moments in our lives and relationships – songs shared, movies watched together. It’s a smart and fresh device that grounds the show’s brass-ness with playful flair.
A sequence of physical theatre played along to Counting Crows classic Accidentally in Love marks a wonderful key change in the show’s narrative arc. The performers dip and dive around each other to share moments of intimacy, tactile, shared memories that flow into each other. Supporting actors Emily Powell and Scott Duncan playfully whisk props and furniture around the central pair, all with a wink and a nudge looking into the audience, that sets up a gleeful sense of fun and whimsy.
Some set changes, props, and theatrical devices come across a little slipshod and needing some more rehearsing, but all of this will come in time. Moments involving silly string, and a bag of popcorn ending up all across the floor, as well as jokes involving bottles and crotches are a little half-baked. It doesn’t greatly detract from the piece, thankfully, but these moments could be tightened up to deliver a more cohesive flow.
The physical section’s ephemeral glow echoes into the show’s closing act, which takes the chance to grapple more sensitively with the subject matter and offering up a finality for our central couple. Maybe This Time decidedly rings with a note of inconclusiveness in the show’s final acts that is denoted with the chaos and craziness of a big night out. A physical altercation scene in the show’s closing moments is delivered with a powerful blow, and the show ends on just the right note.
Maybe this time, maybe not – all that matters when the dust settles are the moments we share and how they allow us to open up to one another. Cor’ Blimey are only cutting their teeth here with this show as a new company – and they are sure to have a bright and boisterous future.
Recommended Drink: Pair this with a VK – atomically blue, electric, sharp – and sure to lead to a zany night.
You can catch Maybe This Time at Sweet @ Keiller Centre from 16:00 until the 15th September. Tickets are available through the Dundee Fringe Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
