Flip! Review

Reviewed by Iona 

Welcome to the world of Flip! A new social media app of short-form video content that has numerous controversies surrounding it. Sound familiar? The premise of Fuel Theatre’s show written by Rachel Ofori surrounds two content creators called Carleen, played by Leah St Luce, and Crystal, played by Jadesola Odunjo, known better online as ‘CC’. In this alternative reality, not too dissimilar to our own, the two have a fairly popular video channel where they talk about “whatever we (they) want”. They get into a little controversy and the two begin to let their friendship sink, the focus on fame shifts between the two as they enter different moments in their life but as they say “everyone is famous” and they are both always looking to something different… but the same. They repeat the same jokes garnering view after view and start trends on the new app Flip!, which they eventually decided to download. 

Photo by Tristram Kenton

Friendships break, AI becomes the new normal and moralities are questioned in this chronically-online take of the world today.

The dynamic duo of St Luce and Odunjo are a force to be reckoned with, they have this contagious friendship that makes you laugh, smile and sympathise. Both in their mid 20’s one with no job and the other with a well-off family, the want for something more really comes out in their performances, not just performing as their main roles but also being their own haters, agents, celebrities and even puppetry, there is a tight-knit quality between these two that has the engagement of the whole audience. 

St Luce develops the character of Carleen throughout the whole show. The rise to fame has a major impact on Carleen and St Luce has the audience on her side the whole show. We, as an audience, can feel her struggle through her voice that carries so much gravity but also jovial quality it’s hard to not want to be her best friend. Odunjo has such a brightness about her performance, she has this confident energy that slowly drains throughout the show as her feelings towards being online shifts. She has such comedic timing and the moment with the lunchbox had me howling (if you know, you know). They both have this attitude with the audience and eachother that makes it clear they both really enjoy performing this piece of theatre and clearly have a great director.

Photo by Tristram Kenton

The direction of the show was impeccable, Emily Aboud has managed to create a world in this small space and allowed imaginations to fill in the gaps. This alongside the choreography and slick movement directed by Aline David, the two clearly work well together in order to create something so thematically seamless. The set consists of black boxes stacked on top of each other, reminiscent of a unwinnable Tetris game, with cupboards to props and costumes to be hidden. The props themselves were innovative, such as using a ringlight as a halo to convey a sarcastic apology video or even the use of flip phones… get it… it’s called Flip!? The lighting keeps very on theme to mid 20’s Gen Z of colour LED strips and had tight changes for comedic timing. The real winner for the night for me was the sound design by Eliyana Evans, who, from the moment we entered the audience to sit, I knew what type of play this was. The introductory music was a selection of both new and trending meme songs such as All Star by Smashmouth but to the Jurassic Park theme or As it was but it’s Elmo’s World. Other slick parts of audio use was bleeping over expletives in ‘videos’ the girls made, when in reality the actors were censoring themselves. 

A comedic look into the future of social media and the issues that arise from it. A show full of inside jokes from characters and online-culture references, it’s truly something I would see again and enjoy just as much. There will be references I’ve missed and funny moments I want to see again and share with my friends. 

If you are a chronically-online 20-something year old, you will, hands down, love this show. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Flip! plays at Edinburgh’s Summerhall until Saturday 4th November and at Soho Theatre in London from Tuesday 7th until Saturday 25th November. Tickets are available from https://fueltheatre.com/projects/flip/

Photo by Tristram Kenton