Teddington Theatre Club's (TTC) production of Jeda de Bri and Finbarr Doyle's play Tryst at Hampton Hill Theatre began last night (Tuesday, 14 July).

Performed in the small intimate stage of the Noel Coward Studio with minimal props and all black costumes, TTC's production allows the audience to focus on the incredible skills of the actors and de Bri and Doyle's verbatim-like yet deeply emotive speech.

The cast consists of only three actors with Josh Clarke as Matt, Georgia Barnwell as Steph, and Lola Hill as Rachel.

And I cannot applaud all three enough on how expertly they played their roles - making me feel as though I was watching a live episode of EastEnders.

While the original play is set in the context of a Catholic-ruled Ireland 10 years ago, director Ian Kinane did a marvellous job of adapting the script to entice a more modern audience, such as swapping penny sweets out for Percy Pigs.

And, with the constitutional ban on abortions in Ireland now remiss, TTC's production created a whole new novel of questions different to those that would have been asked when the play was first performed in 2016.

Tryst, a 70-minute-long play, follows one morning wherein Matt and Steph are hungover and preparing for their wedding (almost), which is less than a week away.

From the onset, TTC's production mimics its original Catholic context with Steph worrying about what the vicar might think of their wedding plans.

But the chemistry between Matt and Steph is so clear that I was shocked to later find out that Clarke and Barnwell had not worked together before. They embodied their characters so well that I originally thought they had known eachother for years.

However, the couple's somewhat ligh-hearted morning is disturbed when their best friend Rachel arrives unannounced and reveals a secret that threatens to unravel everything. Now they must deal with the consequences of a messy night out 10 weeks prior (which is briefly shown at the start of the production) and bad decisions.

From then on the play consists of hard conversations between the three friends, showcasing the writers' complex and fast-paced text and creating a tennis match of blame among the characters as each of them blames each other for the consequences of their messy night and never themselves.

While I concluded that I'm not sure I like any of the characters, I was definitely undecided throughout whether to trust or like Matt and Rachel.

Clarke did an excellent job of portraying an uncultured man baby and I could not decide whether to hate him, believe him, or sympathise with him.

And both Barnwell and Hill did a spectacular job, as Clarke later said, of portraying their single characters through their eyes - they both are experts at facial expressions, and I was immensely impressed at all three actors' ability to cry on queue.

With explicit language and sexual scenes, this is definitely not a show you should bring your kids to, but it does explore important yet complex conversations about the blurred lines surrounding consent and alcohol, which Doyle, during his Q&A session following the performance (free to tickethokders of the first performance), later said were not as overt when he and his ex partner wrote Tryst 10 years ago than they are today.

Additionally, I absolutely loved the minimalistic stage setting and intimacy of the studio as it felt as though we were eavesdropping on a private and heated conversation between three friends experiencing the worst time of their lives.

I could literally see that, like me, the audience were silent and gripping their chairs throughout, intensely watching as each character spoke.

While the situation at the heart of the play may not be relatable to most, I loved that there were little situations throughout that invoked the familiar - for example as Steph enters the stage playing an old-school Nintendo DS, the audience are treated to the familiar sounds of the Super Mario Bros, game, which dominated much of my childhood.

While the play follows an intense and awkward conversation between friends who find themselves in a messy situation, I loved that the production intertwined moments of laughter and moments where my overlyempathetic little heart wanted to cry for each character as the blame mismatch unravelled.

It truly was an absolutely excellent production and I would persuade everyone to purchase tickets as it continues at Hampton Hill Theatre for the rest of the week.

And I am not the only person who enjoyed the show.

In the Q&A after the performance, co-writer Doyle, who previously played Matt in 2016, 2017, and 2019, praised TTC's production.



He said that he has never seen another production of Tryst and praised Clarke for expertly playing his character.

Doyle explained that the titular word, tryst, is the definition of a rendezvous between lovers and that is exactly what the play presents.

He added that he was inspired by the works of Mammoth, Pinter, and Carol Churchill and the play's text certainly reveals that.

"The script is clinical, but so much of it is also simultaneous," he said.

Tryst, somewhat annoyingly, ends with a cliffhanger, which Doyle said was done on purpose to allow the audience to decide their own conclusions to the drama.

However, this just left me wondering when there will be a second episode.

It was as though all three characters had a silver bullet in their pockets throughout the play, only to shoot themselves at the end.

None of the characters are malicious by nature, but the play reveals malice, meaning that no one wins.

TTC's production of Tryst is running at Hampton Hill Theatre until Saturday, 18 July.

The Wednesday to Friday performances will run at 7.45pm and there will be two performances on Saturday, being at 2pm and 6.30pm.

And if you have not yet purchased a ticket, I suggest you do so!

Tickets cost £20 or £16 for members plus booking fee.

Tickets can be bought online now here.