Review: WE WERE HAVING A PERFECTLY NICE TIME, Omnibus Theatre

Clapham's award-winning independent theatre reopens its doors with this short dark comedy about loo roll, lost love at the bus station and knowing when to end a conversation. We Were Having a Perfectly Nice Time is a new, two-hander play written by Pedro Leandro, produced by Conflicted Theatre in association with Grace Dickson Productions. This is an indoor, socially distanced performance.

We Were Having a Perfectly Nice Time is about two flatmates who seem to hate a lot of things, perhaps even each other. Yet, they clearly have a thorough understanding of each other's thought patterns and behaviour, as most flatmates eventually do, and appear to be getting on pretty well. Until one of them goes and spoils it all by confessing her newfound romantic feelings for the other.

Leandro is clearly an exciting new writer. His dialogue is extremely witty, intelligent and fast-paced, and captures the essence of modern relationships. There is also an element of avant-garde and Brechtian influences in this piece. At the beginning, from the back row of the audience, Leandro announces that the play has started before going into a short humorous monologue on what is, and isn't, part of the show.

The direction by Evan Lordan is also creative and fresh. However, some choices are unclear. For the entire play, the two actors converse monotonically whilst both sitting very still and staring straight ahead. This initially gives the impression that they are watching TV together, but after a while the stagnant staging feels abstract and not realistic. This direction doesn't fit with the very naturalistic dialogue, nor does it really serve to convey a deeper meaning. Although Leandro clearly intended this piece to be stylised to a degree, it felt as though Lordan went a step too far just for the sake of it.

Stephanie Booth and Hannah Livingstone are both hilarious as the wry flatmates, and are geniuses at keeping a deadpan face throughout. Their ability to conquer Leandro's rich vocabulary at a continuous fast pace for 30 minutes is to be commended.

Leandro is definitely one to watch out for. We Were Having a Perfectly Nice Time is a well-written and boundary-pushing new play that will be enjoyed by those looking for something that speaks to the time and is a little bit different.

We Were Having a Perfectly Nice Time is running at The Common Room at Omnibus Theatre every Friday and Saturday evening until 24 October