Misfits

Commissioned as part of the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s ongoing Essex on Stage programme, Misfits is a vividly written showcase weaving together four monologues from writers with connections to the region.

At first, their stories seem disparate. A divorced 30-something unpacks boxes as she moves back into her parent’s house. A former boy racer relives a night out with the lads. In one piece, Sadie Hasler’s gorgeously observed Everybody gets Born, Gemma Salter revels in every richly rendered turn of phrase as single mum Daisy, reflecting on motherhood as she goes into labour.

Most gripping is Anne Odeke’s swaggeringly confident segment, The Essex Princess, which cleverly dramatises the true story of the UK’s first black beauty-pageant contestant, in 1908. Performing the piece, Odeke shows off some tremendous deadpan timing, as well as a slow-burning ferocity simmering beneath a surface of down-to-earth decency.

Pivoting nimbly to a digital run after its scheduled line-up of in-person performances was cancelled due to ongoing Covid restrictions, Misfits has an infectious energy that grips despite the limitations of the format. Co-Directors Emma Baggott and Douglas Rintoul cut deftly between short snippets from each story, creating a thrilling sense of momentum, even if the tone does shift with jarring regularity.

Adrienne Quartly’s sound design doesn’t so much paper over these cracks as intentionally expose them, with crushing bursts of Courtney Love power-chords or the grimy, hypnotic fuzz of Underworld’s Born Slippy suddenly intruding into scenes like unwanted memories.