Our Town Needs a Nandos review

Liverpool Everyman is flying the flag for emerging talent with Our Town Needs a Nandos, a sprawling teenage drama penned by Young Everyman Playhouse writing graduate Samantha O’Rourke and starring a five-strong cast of young women, three of whom are making their professional debuts in the play.

There are certainly some comparisons to be made with Thornton Wilder’s take on a small town, not least the painting of big stories on a small canvas and the element of meta-theatre in their telling. Opening in the deceptively spare setting of a school studio, the play brings its five characters together in a drama class, allowing them to experiment with talking about the things that trouble them. These are young people who live in the perilous space between youth and adulthood, dealing with very grown-up issues while still treated as kids by the establishment.

Tasked with writing a play on the subject ‘our town’, four teenagers are about to have their group dynamic invaded by a new girl. Chloe has spent her life being bounced around in the care system and she hides behind a thin veil of bravado, quickly taking control of the room. The five decide that the story should focus on all the faults of their rundown seaside home, where the most excitement they can expect is being served a cold cheeseburger in McDonald’s.

The narrative of vignettes is awkward at times, but this feels as though it is exactly the point. Just as in Wilders’ Our Town, the piece is a collection of micro-dramas – interwoven but rarely connecting – and the most poignant moments come when the characters let down their guard and bare their souls.

There’s huge generosity of spirit on stage, with the two most experienced performers, Nadia Anim and Mali O’Donnell,  allowing the exciting talent of the newcomers to shine. The ferocious strength of Chloe Hughes is like a coiled spring in her reading of the brittle, controlling Ellie. Kalli Tant fills every corner of the stage with Beth’s angst as a young gay woman who is discovering it’s not easy to be out and proud in small-town Britain. As the new kid on the block, Jada-Li Warrican’s Chloe is a gloriously layered performance. The experience of repeatedly rebooting her life has made her grow up pretty fast, and the prospect of soon becoming a mother when she’s never had one herself is a weight she carries with extraordinary dignity.

Ameera Conrad directs with a light touch, enabling the cast to voice O’Rourke’s words with genuine freedom, making Our Town Needs a Nandos feel like a cry from the heart.