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I Like Mine with a Kiss

Published Monday 19 February 2007 at 11:25 by Aleks Sierz

You can see why outgoing artistic director Mike Bradwell has chosen Georgia Fitch’s sizzling new play for his farewell gig. I Like Mine with a Kiss is an instant Bush classic - the writing is brilliantly observed, sensual, dirty and imaginative, the acting bristles with emotional truth and the staging boasts a wonderful theatricality.

Louise celebrates her 39th birthday with her best friend Annie but both women find that the morning after brings their relationship to crisis point. For while Annie is the mother of 16-year-old Freya, Louise is determined not to have any children, so her unexpected pregnancy sharpens the conflict between them. Into this mix, add Annie’s mum Jean - plus two unsuitable men - and this story of female friendship soon takes off.

Fitch’s writing conjures up an instantly recognisable world, with its hurt men and desperate women moving through a life of shared cigarettes, empty wine bottles, morning after pills and protests by Fathers for Justice. Her women are either fast-talking wits, like Louise, or down-to-earth mums, like Annie and Jean. And a pulse of loneliness can always be heard in the background.

Bradwell’s fine production, which mixes hilarity and bitterness, has a cracking cast led by Michelle Butterly’s aching Louise, Heather Craney’s Annie, Jade Williams’s Freya and Linda Broughton’s Jean. The two men are played by Ruairi Conaghan and Andrew French.

On designer Libby Watson’s versatile and minimalist set, Fitch’s study of women and motherhood sometimes sags under the weight of all the things she throws into it but finally is a triumph of good writing and true feeling.

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