Epic Love and Pop Songs

This is Doll’s story, as Doll makes clear. Ted is only there as a backing singer. But as the pair describe a tumultuous period in their hormonally-charged teenage years Ted’s side of the story becomes just as important. 

Phoebe Eclair-Powell’s two-hander teeters between sharp insight into the heightened angst of adolescence—particularly in the way that one-upmanship in who’s had sex and who’s taken which drugs takes on an end-of-the-world importance—and the kind of insufferable teen whimsy of a John Green novel. For all the good bits, there are similes that clunk and lines that descend into schmaltzy mush.

Doll (Norah Lopez Holden) and Ted (George Caple) are surrounded by big packing crates, filled with spangly clothes and brightly coloured packing peanuts. Anna Reid’s design is an appropriately lurid affair, a perfect complement to the story. 

Although Ted is dressed as someone you know you will thoroughly hate from the get go (bobble hat, animal print shirt, leggings, shorts over the leggings, fingerless gloves), Caple creates a conflicted character, haunted by past traumas. Holden’s Doll has similar murky depths, hidden behind an outspoken, confident veneer. 

Boosted by an exciting ending, and set to a soundtrack of Beyonce and Sia, Eclair-Powell’s play is a rainbow-tinted slice of teenage fun.