Keeping Up with the Joans

Award-winning North East writer Philip Meeks returns to the Fringe with a complete mirror image of 2013's Fringe First-winning Kiss Me Honey, Honey! Belly laughs are replaced with heartache, as Meeks authors a sober tragicomedy about dementia. Recognised stage and screen stars Katy Manning and Susan Penhaligon, joined by Arron Usher, feature as two elderly amateur dramatic stars, reliving the glory days as leads in George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. But on the evening they received their most cherished review, neither can remember who played the part of Joan.

The lounge of the pair’s care home acts as an unforgiving juxtaposition to the memories they conjure. As the two women argue about their fierce rivalry, talent, grudges and dashed success, returning to the lounge with the simplest of lighting changes can be, at times, tonally beautiful. It’s unclear at first what Meeks is actually doing: over time however, he massages the audience into the minds of these two women – often forgetful, volatile and selfish. But only as we near the final act do we realise the eroding nature of these minds, as if we ourselves are trapped by the women's longing for a glorious past.

As this drama unfolds however, the dialogue starts to jar. It is often too direct, too obviously comic, as the pair berate each other over the tritest memories. It conveys their hot-bloodedness well at first, but becomes hard to stomach and ultimately too wordy. The powerful, gut-wrenching moments never arrive, and all dialogue that draws attention to the lack of these moments ends up sounding plain cheesy.