After 2019’s In PurSUEt, Eleanor Higgins brings another queer-centred play to the Fringe, this time with a Robin Hood-meets-Bonnie and Clyde vibe.
Erica was only going to steal someone’s phone to replace the one stolen from her; it would balance everything out again, after all. But one night she meets Jessie, they bond over their shared love of Lindsay Lohan and Tony Soprano, and a plan is hatched that will solve their wants and needs forever… or will it?
Narrated by Erica (or ‘Ed’) herself with cheeky asides to the audience, we learn how she got into the tense mess at the start of the show, through a whirl of club nights, awkward dates and a very persistent Gumtree buyer. Dialogue between Higgins’s Ed and Naomi Denny as the sarcy, Latin-quoting Jessie is snappy and funny; the latter is a chilled foil to Ed’s frantic energy. Kit Sinclair as love interest Stevie provides a stylish, conflicted and tense addition to the cast.
The early 00s setting will be super-nostalgic for certain generations who avidly read Perez Hilton’s gossip and texted on their Blackberry, when ‘Li-Lo’s gayness as an actress was seen as subversive and groundbreaking. However, Ed and Jessie soon learn that not all rules can be broken to get what we need. There’s some twists to Ed’s story that had a real, tangible impact on the audience; I also appreciated the subtext of the everyday racism Jessie experiences, such as being mistaken for a shoplifter.
WANTED is another triumph for Eleanor Higgins and her team, and I look forward to the next slice of bold queer theatre from them.
*****
WANTED is at Underbelly Belly Button from 13-24 Aug.