“Rotterdam” by Jon Brittain
Nottingham New Theatre.

"Rotterdam" is the bittersweet comedy about gender and sexuality, following Alice (Georgie Brand), who wants to come out as a lesbian. Just as she plucks up the courage to send an email to her parents, her girlfriend Fiona (Lara Cowler) reveals that she has always identified as a man. Now, she wants to start living as Adrian. As Adrian begins his transition, Alice is forced to consider if she’s straight.

The comedy element in this piece of theatre is to the fore, but if you scratch the surface you’ll discover a serious and heartfelt message about being comfortable in your own skin and dealing with the changes, as well as the affect it has on the loved ones and others on the interim of your life.

Directed by Andrew Houghton and produced by Tara Phillips, they have recognised the importance of the play and have presented it in a sensitive and informative way. Getting the vital messages across while keeping the humour to the fore. Andrew and Tara have really gone into this subject matter to make sure that they have all the facts and that it is realistic by inviting a representative of the LGBTQ+ community to view the play before hand, which shows a great dedication to getting everything right.

Lara Cowler plays Fiona/Adrian and there’s quite a bit of emotional portrayal here, as well as some lovely comic lines delivered.

There’s two scenes in this play that really strike home, and for two different reasons. The first is where Adrian is talking to his brother, Josh (Miguel Barrulas) in the pub, and Josh’s ignorance or naivety of the situation is completely credible. He’s trying hard to help and understand but at times it just comes out all wrong.

The second is when Adrian has been deserted by Alice to go with her work friend, Lelani (Megan Peace) and Adrian has reverted back into Alice's clothing. Josh enters and Adrian/Fiona breaks down in his arms. That really did it for me and I could feel myself welling up, seeing the hurt and misunderstanding just because one person should want to be who they want to be and for everyone else not to see that.

A lot of research has gone, not only into the background of the story but into making the whole play atmospheric with the music being from Dutch sounding records. The sound design for this show by Hannah McCullough.

The Lighting design, by Hannah Burne separated the stage into areas for performing and the subdued lighting hid the set movers while the incidental music played.

The set design (Beth Wilson) for this was also clever with three separate areas, the back area being for external scenes.

A fascinating piece of theatre which is also an education for someone like me who, although has friends from the LGBTQ+ community, doesn't really appreciate what someone goes through just to be the person that they want to be.