Theatre / Reviews
Review: Superfan, The Alma Tavern & Theatre – ‘A warm, sharply observed and consistently funny coming-of-age comedy’
Suzy, Molly, Iris and Dorothy are 13 years old; small town girls with a mutual interest – OK, an out and out obsession – with Hollywood star Paul Chamalordi. The object of their devotion is a narcissistic car-crash of an actor, but being 13, they simply refuse to acknowledge any sort of reality behind the myth. That is, until they win a trip to Los Angeles to meet their idol, and rapidly discover the awkward, painful and cathartic truth.
This new play by Lily Grace Oliver (who also plays Iris) is a wryly funny skit on the feelings that only teen fandom can possibly provide. The action captures the quartet as they leave childhood behind, entering a world they’re beginning to understand is full of complications, unfamiliar emotions and challenges that are still just beyond them.
Molly (Seren Jones) dreams of sailing away on a yacht with her hero, while Dorothy’s (Kara Molloy) shyness and anxiety masks a naively pure devotion. As chief fangirl, Suzy (Sarah Gilmore) is determined that she will take control of Paul’s (Toby Mitchell) life, organising it to the nth degree as she grapples with issues of power and control.
Iris, meanwhile, is starting to see the light – she has discovered The Bell Jar and knows the lyrics to Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. It is she who will point the way to a post-Paul Chamalordi existence for her friends – that is, if they’re still her friends at the end of all this palaver.
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Superfan’s energy, verve and wit comes from a cast still young enough to remember the trials and tribulations of early teenagehood. Refreshingly, the girls’ emotions are worn lightly – there are sweetly amusing monologues as the fans pour out their feelings, but little in the way of real anguish and angst. The trip to LA goes wrong, but not horribly – even Paul’s sleazy manager (Jake Janaway) is more parody than perv.
The production occasionally leans a little too heavily on its sketches, and there are moments when the emotional journey could perhaps be pushed further. Yet Oliver understands that for most teenagers, the end of an obsession is rarely a grand tragedy. More often, it is simply another step towards becoming someone else. The girls arrive in Los Angeles desperate to meet a fantasy and leave having discovered something far more useful: each other, and themselves.
Warm, sharply observed and consistently funny, Superfan captures that peculiar intensity with which adolescence invests ordinary people with extraordinary significance. It is less interested in mocking fandom than in celebrating the friendships that so often grow around it, making for an affectionate coming-of-age comedy.
Superfan is at The Alma Tavern & Theatre on June 17-18 at 8pm. Visit tickettailor.com for tickets and follow show updates @superfanbristol.
Main photo: Lily Oliver
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