Annie Jenkins' first full-length play, which was workshopped in 2016 and shortlisted for the Theatre503 Award, gets an eagerly awaited full production from the Up In Arms touring theatre company team, but they are staying put at the Pleasance Theatre with In Lipstick until the end of January.'Where do I begin..' sings Shirley Bassey as a stage slowly revolves to show us a garishly decorated room, complete with posters of the singer, a large teddy bear and lots of pink, a bit of a park, and another, more sober front room, the bright red of an Arsenal scarf the only notable splash of colour.
We begin, after a full circle, back in the first room where Cynthia, an excitable young woman in a large curly wig, is decorating chicken nuggets with birthday candles. She wakes Maud, a similarly bewigged older woman sleeping under the duvet on the couch, with one of those intensely irritating hooters and a too-loud rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. Cynthia's character is established but what about Maud?
Jenkins keeps us guessing throughout about who, why and what these women are. They obviously have a strong bond and love each other to a certain extent. Cynthia appears to be agoraphic, the chicken nuggets were posted through the letterbox and she seems not to have left the flat she shares with Maud for a number of years. Maud, on the other hand, has a job, leaves their cramped space often (much to Cynthia's annoyance) and, in the next scene, seems to be sizing up Dennis as a possible partner.
Dennis, a damaged, eager-to-please 40-something is the least enigmatic character in the play. A security guard where Maud works (doing what, where?), we learn he was once married with a son he doesn't see, is an Arsenal fan with a dog named after Thierry Henry, tries to better himself by learning the meaning of a new word each day and is a teetotaller. We realise, after a disturbing scene with his dog, witnessed by Maud who flees in terror, he was once a violent drunk.
Scenes alternate between Maud and Cynthia, Maud and Dennis. Maud is the centre of a fractured world where she seems to collect damaged people but why, and what is her backstory?
Terrible things are intimated in the final scene when all three get together to celebrate another birthday, this time Cynthia's, with a bin bag of chicken nuggets, too much alcohol, an off the wagon Dennis and references to 'new dads', 'negotiating lots of dick', someone called Alice...
There's some very good writing here. The final scene is clearly indebted to Pinter but has the energy and the element of hysteria that's found in all Shirley Bassey's performances. And there are quite a lot of those during the evening. The excellent sound design by Ed Clarke moves seamlessly between live Bassey, karaoke Bassey and tinny Bassey belting out of a PC.
All three actors are excellent. James Doherty as Dennis gives a beautifully layered performance, the sadness seeping through his terrible jokes, the terror that he might, at any time, return to his old ways, the lonely life he's trying so hard to escape with Maud.
Cynthia, as played by Alice Sykes, is a bundle of pent-up energy, lost, even inside the room she never leaves, madly irritating, often funny, a confused, sad, scared young woman. That she is at all sympathetic is down to fine acting and subtle direction from Alice Hamilton.
And then there is Maud (Caroline Faber). Maud with the two lives that can't reconcile themselves. She's loving and violent, battered (by what?), bruised (by whom?), but strong, intelligent, stuck and liberated at the same time. What about Maud? Just who is Maud?
The cancellation of several West End transfers has created an opportunity for this highly regarded Australian production to stop off at the Vaudeville Theatre for a short season and it’s well worth a look.