Review: Scenes with Girls at The Royal Court

I’m stepping into 2020 like…

Because I just watched Scenes with Girls at the Royal Court! And I’m feeling all empowered. And it’s made being back to the daily grind more bearable. I’m not the only one conflicted by the social constructs imposed onto me!

And what better way to spend a Friday night than with a couple of girls who know their stuff!

My first show of the year and it started with a huge bang that goes way beyond Feminism. There are twenty two scenes between Tosh and Lou and they examine relationships between boys, each other and Fran. Tosh has never been in a relationship and Lou can’t stop talking about the amount of liberating sex she’s having whilst Fran is finding the whole thing ‘so funny!’.

Centered around two best friends, Tosh starts with a witty faced paced anecdote about last nights’ ‘sesh’ with ‘Bagel’. A boy she’s definitely not seeing. Filled with private jokes and finishing each others sentences with better phrases these two are close. Reveling in knowing everything about each other the lightening speed conversation soon becomes annoying but they know it, which is what made it all the more delightful. Lou is soon banging her head at the regurgitated narrative of is an attempt to break out of the clichés they’re stuck to….the conditioning of love. But let’s face it romance and love is hard to shake off from our existence, or is it?

The conventional lifestyle of wanting to get married and have a family of your own is a narrative I myself have struggled to identify with. And is a huge question which Scenes with Girls explores so well. Miriam Battye addresses the many messy issues plaguing our minds like whether we want that conventional standard in the 21^st century (like maybe Fran does) or is what we think we want based on what we’ve been told? Are we in the midst of creating a new social fabric? We’re now living in a less conventional narrative. And the more ‘girls’ I speak to the more control they want over paving our own ‘norms’. And I see these social constructs being challenged more and often in the mainstream.

Speaking of Fran; the third wheel in this awkward triangle, her intentions are sincere and kind. She wants in on this tight bond of enlightened, woke as Childish Gambino, empowerment as she questions the look in her boyfriends eyes when she finally does get an invite to the party. All is well the two reassure her. And it’s just that which keeps her at arms length from these two. A boyfriend. Or so they think. Their thoughts of Fran’s partner only highlights their own uncertainty and insecurity of a new ‘norm’ they’re trying to discover when it comes to relationships.  She’s not as cool, as well read or as fast but they say it’s him that’s the problem.

Identifying more with Fran out of three I could relate to her awkward social responses in the midst of sex talk whilst fumbling with her sleeves. But this isn’t a play to shock. It’s just conversations…with girls! And with the second series of Sex Education (also starring Tanya Reynolds) starting on Netflix, at the same time, it racked up to 40 million views. So it seems to be the hot topic of discussion. Something I’m looking forward to seeing more of across the next decade.

Next for my viewing pleasure is ‘Little Women’.

Scenes with Girls runs until 22^nd February 2020 at The Royal Court