Review: VANILLA, VAULT Festival

Sex comedies seem to be all the rage in London this year. The latest addition is Vanilla, a play that centres around an attempt at saving a relationship with a threesome. It's the end of lockdown and Dan is bored and depressed. He doesn't have fun with Katie anymore, in the bedroom as in life. Now they're waiting for Nick to show up and meet them for the first time. Dan thinks inviting someone else into their couple might be a way out of this tight-fitting rut, but Nick turns out to be more than a stranger.

Laura Mead writes with prudish humour while Keith Swainston directs her, Ned Wakeley (Dan), and Scott Henderson in a production that's almost as uninteresting as Katie and Dan's sex life. Mead's script is as traditional as the missionary position, but wishes to be as funny as an inappropriate joke at a funeral. She gives her character a silver tongue and wit for days, and she's great at delivering too, but the plot is awkwardly stale in its predictability.

While the material doesn't allow for much directorial invention, the three performances are compelling enough. Mead steals the scene for good reasons, while Henderson is a wolf in sheep's clothing from the get-go. He's intense against Wakeley's tendency to submit to his performance partners. He's an optimal baddie. Unfortunately, the twist is introduced by a Chekhov's gun kind of situation and the story isn't anything to write home about.

As far as the genre goes, this piece is kept on the ground by rampant prudishness. Mead is magnetic on stage and her scripted dynamics are intriguing. Her writing, however, needs to loosen up a bit.

Vanilla runs at VAULT Festival until 19 March.

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