Beach Babe is an entertaining, thought-provoking dark comedy about love, grief, and the afterlife. A young couple find themselves stranded on a rubbish-filled beach in Wales with no recollection of how they got there and no way of leaving. The young ‘woman’, played wonderfully by Julia Tidmas Goodall, is heavily pregnant but, due to the nature of their situation, is never able to give birth. Her partner, ‘man’, tries to inject optimism into their predicament, even if he does not feel it himself. The Starving Creatives’ media pack described ‘man’ as ‘the human embodiment of a golden retriever.’ An apt description, and one Nicholas Holloway channels expertly in his performance. Throughout the play, more information about the reality of the situation and the nature of the beach is revealed. I won’t spoil the various revelations here, but they were well crafted and served Beach Babe’s themes well.
Playwright Elizabeth Goodall effectively uses humour both to lighten what could otherwise be a very sombre performance, and as a mechanism to open these conversations about the nature of grief. I was frequently reminded of those precious moments when you can laugh with your friends and/or family at a funeral or wake. Often, humour is the only way to deal with something so intense, at least to begin with. Despite the absurd nature of some of the comedy, Holloway enters stage wearing an enormous, inflatable pink-flamingo, Beach Babe never undermines the impact of grief. It is worth noting that the Starving Creatives are themselves all young grievers, and I imagine this is how they manage to toe the line between the absurdist comedy and the quieter moments of sadness and reflection so well. It feels real because, in a way, it is.
The issue, however, with trying to use humour to explore all these intense existential questions about the nature of grief in a 35-minute run-time, is that everything will inevitably feel rushed. Beach Babe charges from humorous interaction to existential conversation, to revelations about the nature of reality so quickly that the characters are given little time to breathe. Perhaps the most obvious example of this, is that ‘man’, despite being integral to the play’s themes, leaves stage about 10 minutes prior to the ending and doesn’t return. This not only makes it harder to emotionally connect with the characters but limits the depth in which these questions are able to be explored. So, although the conversations all feel real, they don’t say anything that hasn’t already been said in other grief-related media. It is worth noting though that, at the end of the play, the Starving Creatives said that they are hoping to transform Beach Babe into a full-length performance. To my mind, that would be a much more suitable medium for this story. The play already feels like a 2-act performance, I won’t say why here for fear of giving away a crucial element of the story, but currently does not have the time to explore either of these acts in the depth they deserve.
Overall, Beach Babe is an enjoyable play, performed wonderfully by Goodall, Holloway and Zuza Kurko, that will stick in your mind for the rest of the day. I just wish we’d been able to spend a little more time in this world and with these characters. That way, Beach Babe would likely progress from thought-provoking to truly moving and perhaps even an inciteful exploration of grief.
Reviewer: Ben Pearson
Reviewed: 7th August 2024.
North West End UK Rating: