Dennis Kelly’s tour de force, his one-woman play Girls & Boys, has been performed only once in this country, if my research is correct. That was in 2018 when Carey Mulligan took on the gigantic task of bringing Kelly’s words to the stage at London’s Royal Court.
Now Nottingham Playhouse is presenting the regional première of this dynamic piece, with Aisling Loftus returning to her home city to present this monologue of epic proportions.
For an hour and three-quarters, she captivates the audience, holding them enthralled as she serves up a fascinating depiction of a young, unnamed woman whose life encompasses love, marriage, motherhood and heartbreak before a touchingly tragic conclusion.
Loftus last appeared at the Playhouse in 2017 in Stephen Lowe’s wartime drama Touched alongside another Nottinghamshire actor, Vicky McClure. Loftus, recognisable from playing Agnes Towler in the ITV series Mr Selfridge, was not overawed then. Nor is she overawed by standing on the Playhouse stage alone as the play continues without an interval towards an agonisingly sad ending.
From the moment Loftus steps onto the stage in bare feet wearing a jumper and trousers, she holds the audience in the palm of her hand. It appears she’s speaking to theatregoers individually as she reveals intimate details of her life.
Kelly’s script is humorous, incisive and laudable, allowing Loftus to evoke care for her character even when she describes her reckless antics during her “drinky, druggy, slaggy phase”.
She skilfully narrates the tale of how she encountered the man who was to become her husband, meeting him in an airport when he gloriously dismissed two models who were trying to jump a queue.
The next scene finds the woman at home with two children. Loftus dexterously mimes cleaning up after baby Danny who is a messy eater while she tries to discourage daughter Leanne from bringing a bucket of mud into the house. You feel for Loftus when she opines she’s a terrible mother. Her comments about the distinctions between boys and girls is where Kelly gets the title from.
Loftus goes back to addressing the audience when she recounts how she suddenly and surprisingly decided she wanted a job in the media. An interview for a position as a development executive’s assistant’s PA ought to end catastrophically, but her honesty and perverseness win her the job.
When she sets up in business with a colleague called Liam, they make a film which takes off. She admits, “I was good at it”, but she is so wrapped up in herself that the intense relationship she had with her husband disintegrates.
The play takes a hugely dark turn after that, with the woman telling the audience “if it gets difficult—and it will get difficult—I want you to remember two things: remember that this did not happen to you, and that it is not happening now.” That is the springboard for Loftus, who has two children of her own, to produce an even more compelling performance. She becomes so absorbed that tears well up as she experiences a disaster that many parents couldn’t even imagine.
Director Anna Ledwich must take credit for extracting every morsel of humour and devastation from Kelly’s undoubted masterpiece. She also deserves praise for believing that Loftus was right for the part. Loftus is nothing short of magnificent in a role which many actors wouldn’t dare to attempt.
In 2010, The Observer predicted that Aisling Loftus would be "a phenomenon”. She is definitely living up to that prediction.