Theatre: Desolate Heaven

Desolate Heaven

Venue: Theatre 503, The Latchmere Pub, Battersea

Running til 2 March

Tickets £15 (£10 concessions)

This is the first production of this new play, so hot off the press.

It opened on the 5 February at Theatre 503 and runs until 2 March 6 days a week (not Mondays).

Introducing Carla Langley as Orlaith and Evelyn Lockley as Sive, two young carers bonding over their similar circumstances of being deserted by one parent and left to care for the infirm other.

Clearly their situations influence and shape their characters, and their journey together. Sive is anxious and afraid; Orlaith, full of defiant bravado; opposites in personality but attracted to each other as kindred spirits and confidantes. United in their desires to escape their non-lives.

Part tragedy, part fairytale, part yellow brick road – and most definitely lesbian coming of age in a traditional preserve, we follow our fatally flawed heroines in the crux of their escape. Starting out full of young naivety that had been repressed in their faux grown up status (their opening lines are a conversation about the challenges of adult responsibilities).

Their characters carry themselves through the challenges of life on the road. They meet three fairy godmother women ably played by Brid Brennan with a wonderfully expressive face, bringing comic relief to the darkness that hovers just below the surface. Enabling nonetheless the path towards the inevitable downfall.

After weeks of travelling, the lucky breaks from the Fairy Godmother interventions, bring the girls to arrive at their paradise, their “heaven” and it is desolate. Initially this suits their spirit; slowly the fantasy crumbles around them as the darkness cannot be kept at bay and emerges through the cracks to consume and destroy.

Utterly convincing, captivating performances by Evelyn and Carla, and subtle direction from Paul Robinson, turn Ailis Ni Riain's script into an allegory with multiple meanings and a commentary on the plight of young troubled teens aspiring for more.

We spoke to Carla and Evelyn after the performance. They were both very excited to be part of their first professional production. But they did not come across as inexperienced, both gave very mature performances. This, despite, 3 weeks rehearsals. Their chemistry was essential to the success of this production, and it was impressive how quickly they developed their working relationship - very much required for some of the intense and dark scenes.

By Katie