Spilled secrets, overheard gossip and small-town drama. Miss Thing by Molly Squire tells the story of Acklesford village’s beauty pageant from the claustrophobic atmosphere of its dressing room. Recent graduate Felicity moves to Acklesford in a bid to make friends, unknowingly walking into a tense web of spiteful and complex interpersonal relationships. Feathers are ruffled and truths uprooted in this fast-paced and hilarious dramedy from Nottingham New Theatre.
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| Jess Yerby. Photo by Hope Somers. |
The cast are outstanding, each shining in their roles. George Day as sleazy pageant host Scott opens the show with a raucous energy impressive for a Friday morning, setting the tone for a frenetic hour of salacious gossip and confrontation. He is shortly joined by Wincy Jeyaraj as Felicity, who tumbles onto the stage with an endearingly chaotic energy. Squires’ characters are pantomimic at times; their exaggerated physical comedy and witty one-liners keep the audience laughing throughout, and yet they are so recognisably human. The warm Joyce (Bea Robertson) and feisty Melissa (Rosanna Beacock) are a formidable duo of best friends not to be messed with, and the sassy yet earnest Paul (Harrison Martin), the only man competing in the pageant who rocks afloor-length sparkly gown, balances comic relief and emotional vulnerability expertly. Molly Squires’ writing is gorgeous, as hilarious as it is moving, and always keeping us guessing. Beneath the quick-witted anecdotes, sardonic humour and playful comebacks, there lurks a powerful emotional truth for each of these characters. Even Carmen (Jess Yerby), a stone-cold pageant veteran with nothing kind to say, loses her façade of heartlessness as the play progresses, and we begin to see her for who she truly is: an insecure young woman desperately trying to impress the memory of her cruel mother. Jess Yerby plays Carmen beautifully, balancing grief, rage, and regret in a powerful portrait of a bereaved daughter staring at an unknown future as she negotiates her identity following her mother’s death.
Identity is a key theme of the play, perhaps unexpectedly, emerging from the chaos and comedy as insults are hurled and secrets revealed. A highlight of the show is the heart-to-heart between Carmen and Paul, both attempting to navigate their queerness and carve their own identities in spite of complex family relationships. This is what Miss Thing is truly about: finding and holding close your chosen family after your own fails you, and growing beyond the past that may attempt to confine us. Just as Acklesford is a small town with big characters, Miss Thing is a little play with a huge expanse of emotion.
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| Bea Robertson, Rosanna Beacock, Wincy Jeyaraj, Jess Yerby, Harrison Martin and George Day. Photo by Hope Somers. |
This Nottingham New Theatre production proves the importance of student theatre. The only fully student-run theatre in England, the NNT produces original work and serves as a vital innovative hub for the next generation of creatives, who bring shows to Edinburgh Fringe every year. Since the University of Nottingham’s decision to close the NNT’s on-campus building in 2023, the society has moved into an alternative provision and continues to champion student theatre during changing times. Calls to invest in theNNT’s historic home have been supported by alumni such as Ruth Wilson, Carrie Cracknell and Theo James. Join the campaign to reinstate the NNT into its original theatre here.
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Miss Thing was performed at the Space @ Surgeons’ Hall at 10.35 and finished on August 29th. Find more information about the work by New Theatre, Nottingham. For more information, visit https://newtheatre.org.uk/
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