EDINBURGH 2023: Review: LOVE IS BLUE, C Arts

When Olly abandons his cold coffee on the street, Aaron, cold and hungry, picks it up, grateful. The well-off city trader strikes a conversation with the homeless 19-year-old and, in an act of surprising kindness, offers him a shower at his house. Don Cotter explores crucial subjects in a two-hander that’s just too artificial to hit the right spot. A tight direction by Prav MJ and impressive performances by Sam Walter and Andrew Ewart ease the shortcomings of the text, presenting two young men who are broken in different ways. 

Walter is arrogant and guffawing as grieving Olly, who ambles between trying to make a connection and preserving his late boyfriend’s memory. On the other end, Ewart is a sweet presence, subdued by the sharp turn in his life and the lack of sleep that came with it. While the pair is, obviously, worlds apart, their exchanges sound the same. Overly lyrical passages and contrived turns of phrase don’t make this a naturally flowing text.

Quick blackouts over music acts as scene changes, helping with the pacing and moving the action in time, but Olly’s long direct addresses slow it down. Though it comes off as the only reason for the play to exist, the campaign remains an important subject. Cotter weaves religious homophobia and bereavement into this story of sudden homelessness and penance. It would make it an exciting, multi-faceted project to program, but it still has a long way to go.

Love Is Blue runs at C Cubed on the following dates: 11-13, 15-20, 22-27 August.

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