Review: PLATONIC, White Bear Theatre

Daniel (Duarte Bandeira) is a young man on his way back home from the city. Emily (Julia-Maria Arnolds) is heading to "the village" to try to fix things with her boyfriend, who's actually decided not to go with her, after all. Their loneliness and hunger for something more finds fertile ground when he pierces through her bubble and chats her up on the train journey. Bandeira writes Platonic, a fairly unusual story about human connection and unrequited love whose balance is inexplicably off.

Directed by Paula Cassina, the piece sees the odd bond develop through time. Sharp one-liners follow existential truths about affection and purpose, but the play's bigger meaning gets sadly lost in the victimisation of the characters and the inherent implications of the man's behaviours. In the words of the internet, she "friendzones" him and he's accepting of it until she blatantly leads him on. An awkward sex scene ensues and their friendly connection is seemingly broken, so they go back to his hometown to work on salvaging what they have.

Baggage haunts the two from the very start. Daniel's irritating ways manage to push Emily to open up and reveal what's going on with her life in the first ten minutes of their meeting. This wouldn't be an issue if she had been openly fine with his intrusion, but her social cues - both spoken and unspoken - make it clear that his attention is entirely unwanted. His not picking up the (usually very evident) signs she sends him become part of his "quirks" and she goes with it, kicking off their friendship.

But there's something that doesn't quite feel right. The performances are detailed and smooth in their delivery, but the set-up of the plot is feeble. The subsequent strengthening of their affinity looks like it doesn't hold solid groundwork, making the development of their platonic intimacy look too up in the air to have any weight. Platonic has its funny moments and it's unafraid to present Daniel in all his complexities as a man, but one feels that Emily remains a bitter and unaccomplished character throughout.

Her damage cements a backstory she never recovers from. By narrowing her personality down to dating and failing, the script conceals a slight but worrisome misogyny that presents a series of significant ramifications. The endgame of the play finally comes through at the very end, handing over a poignant finale that doesn't, however, redeem the events that precede it. Platonic could turn into a sturdy piece of theatre with Bandeira's sensitive writing, potentially highlighting the failings of human nature and the idiosyncrasy of love - whether this is returned or not - but at this stage it refuses to take off.

Platonic runs at the White Bear Theatre until 5 October.

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