Festival review: Twentysomething; Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall (venue 278)

TWENTYSOMETHING is a bitchier and more realistic 2012 take on Friends; an ensemble piece about a reunion of a group of pals.
By Alison Kerr
Published 13th Aug 2012, 13:38 BST

The play opens with the core couple of the group – two of the three who haven’t left home, gobby Zoe (Yasmin Shomalzadeh) and her gay best friend Michael (Adam Colborne), preparing for the evening. Or, as Michael puts it, limbering up for “bitching – what we do best as a group”.

As the friends assemble, old rivalries flare up along with unresolved tension between a former boyfriend and girlfriend. And once tequila is added to the mix, the rivalries and tensions reach boiling point.

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This is an entertaining and well-written piece, very much from the thirtysomething and Friends mould but grungier and with more alcohol – and perhaps a less convincing group of friends. Its strength is in the performances, which are uniformly impressive and help to offset the lack of originality in the plot.

Rating: ***

Until 19 August. Today 6:25pm.