Can the woes of womanhood, social class, and sexuality avoid the clichés and actually be funny, especially in an Edinburgh Fringe production? Lost and Found has proved it can be.
Maeve is funny, fiery and fractured into several pieces. A young woman trying to find herself, her friendships and love, her story is told nearly exclusively from two locations; her childhood bedroom and a Glasgow nightclub. For sure, they’re the two perfect settings to explore womanhood; a genuinely relatable story.
The play spans a night out with Maeve as her run-of-the-mill friends from her home in Glasgow met her well-to-do friends from university. Of course, the groups mix as well as gravy and ice cream and from the moment they meet subtle jibes and obvious digs are frequent. No attacks were too harsh or too soft, instead, they were extremely realistically nippy. Cruel for the characters, perhaps, but definitely fun for the audience to see the relatability and humour in their friendships.
The cast all shone. Some characters, namely Hayley, were a bit like nails on a chalkboard. However, that’s the reality of seeing friends from your youth meet friends from adulthood. The audience cringed because they were supposed to, then laughed because it was funny. Funny, because it’s true. However, we might not all jump into pre-organised choreography.
Lost and Found’s flyer distributors were parading the street declaring the play as fun and feminist. And they hit the nail on the head. It’s feminist in a way that relays the joy of women and their friendships and love; in a way that celebrates the experience of womanhood. And yes, it’s definitely in a way that’s fun.
You can catch Lost and Found every other day the Just the Tonic at the Caves, venue 88, in Cowgate.
Featured image credit: The Counterminers
Journalism student with an interest in culture and news.
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