She Threaded Dangerously

Four schoolgirls are bursting with sexual energy, anger and hormones as they tease and compete over who is going to flirt with the temporary PE teacher. 

On the intimate Old Fitz stage they strut and posture, gabbling at a teenager’s speed, as danger lurks beyond. She Threaded Dangerously is a confronting new play from Simon Thomson and Emma Wright, snappily directed by Claudia Elbourne.

Elbourne, playing the role at short notice, also excels as Mel, the most sexually precocious schoolgirl whose seduction of the terrified teacher (Leon Walshe) goes nowhere.  He and Mel are both inexplicably absent later when the girls begin their final year.

Meanwhile the uncertain Sophie (Larissa Turton) thinks all is under control as she keeps meeting up with an older man (Michael Yore) who is patiently, even warmly, grooming her.  Natalie (Alyssa Peters) gets lost in bush finding an allegedly notorious sex shanty, while Luna (Karrine Kanaan) lives vicariously through her cool friends. 

Designer Laila McCarthy delineates simple areas for these encounters, marked by a tree or bench, but notably by Luna Ng effective lighting.  

Alex Lee-Rekers sound helps build tension, but somehow too many threads lead nowhere and any danger slips. 

Luna invites two boys (Hamish Alexander and Walshe) to join them but beneath their bravado they too are desperately inexperienced.  While the play’s focus on the girls as a group is rewarding and sharp, the boys are merely cardboard provocateurs.

Indeed, we know little about the individuals of either gender, and so our concentration does wan over 90 minutes.  The play’s strength (for the girls)  the tightrope between agency and victimhood, in a work evoking echos of Picnic at Hanging Rock and Spring Awakening.    

Martin Portus

Photographer: Karla Elbourne