By Zoe Tang, Third Year law
Four actors, four characters and a multitude of possibilities. Thirsty is a gritty, honest, fast-paced comedy centred around queer and polyamorous individuals, following their journey of coming to terms with their sexualities, balancing societal pressures, friendship dynamics, and hidden feelings.
Directed by Leo Russell and produced by Maui Connock, Thirsty is a student play which follows the lives of Coltrane, Trixie, Astrid, and Jasper (played by Connie James, Izzy Long, Leo Hincks and Montague Austin interchangeably), four friends who couldn’t be more different from one another. We follow the trials and tribulations of these characters throughout the play; from proposals, to dancing together, to relationships falling apart and even death.
The hook of the show was how the roles were swapped around amongst the actors. Every actor had at least one crucial scene as each character, which was explained at the beginning of the play with the reassurance that it was normal to feel confused. This concept, though conceptually complex, was skillfully executed. Simple costumes were artfully chosen for convenience: the four distinctive overcoats representing the characters were shared amongst the four actors and used interchangeably. From changing backstage to making quick swaps onstage, then to even changing mid-argument and picking up on each other’s dialogue, it kept the audience on their toes, and I constantly had to remind myself to use the costume and not the face as the identifying feature of a character at the start.
These character swaps steadily became an integral part of the play as it progressed, challenging the range of each actor as they played drastically different characters, unequivocally intertwined with each other. It was remarkable how every actor assumed their character swiftly. Most notably, no two takes on the same character were the same; every interpretation had its own distinctive flair and elements of personalisation, which was a major contribution to fleshing out the facets of each character. Seeing them played by different actors kept the act refreshing throughout the entire play.
Director Leo Russell emphasised the freedom and control of actors over their interpretation and expression of the different characters – the stage directions were minimal, and the actors relied on their intuition to make creative choices during the performance. Only having known this after the show, it came as a surprise that stomping on balloons and interacting with the audience were not staged – sometimes there would be a split second where someone looked like they were slipping out of character, but a sudden expression change alongside fast-paced dialogue showed that they were fully immersed the whole time, while observing the other actors’ improvisations.
The show was packed with British humour, as expected of a Bristol production, and was well-delivered by the minimalistic use of props and costumes. The simplicity does well in drawing out and highlighting the themes of the show: the characters’ struggles with their personal, romantic and family lives due to the perceived unconventionality of their sexualities. Trixie’s monologue exploring the anxieties of growing old with a sapphic partner was particularly raw and heartfelt, reflecting the concerns and wider issues prevalent within the LGBTQIA+ community, especially the lack of normative standards for non-heterosexual and/or polyamorous relationships that last past one’s hedonistic youth. Here, these eccentric, arbitrary personalities are not seen as spectacles or burdens, but rather as troubled individuals trying, through different events, to find consolation in their identities and sense of self.
Featured image: Lily Steed
