"Scenes From A Friendship" by Jane Upton.

Neville Studio.

Nottingham Playhouse.

The year is 1987 and Jess and Billy first meet as first year juniors in a Long Eaton school. As they grow up, as with most of us and school friends, they pursue different life choices, jobs, relationships etc which take them off in different directions, only for their lives to rekindle again. As with most soul mates, this also brings arguments, as well as a lot of laughter and fun. Secrets are shared and the green eyed monster makes an appearance as well.

The play explores the complexities and rewards of close friendship through a thoughtful dramatic lens. It also examines how our best friends shape us, know us intimately, and influence our lives. It covers decades of childhood memories - let's face it, who can forget making a mixtape for their loved one or best friend forever? For those too young to know what a "mixtape" is, Google it. Through teen years, young adulthood, falling in and out of love through to parenthood. But through all of this is a deeply rooted bond of true friendship.

I have read Jane Upton's plays and have seen them on stage and I am a fan of her style and language. It's like listening in to a conversation behind a pair of school kids on the bus, especially the first section of the play, before the complexities of grown up life take over and remove a lot of the innocent fun from those days. the bragging of who snogged who, and other activities behind the bike sheds and the gossip of who's doing what to whom brought back the joys of being a certain age. Their love of drama at school cements their friendship which gives both a solid foundation as friends which follow them through their adult lives.

But then over the years, everything becomes a lot more serious with jobs, paying bills, getting the breaks, relationships and of course parenthood. This play takes you through every aspect of these things but having your best friend there for you, showing that life ain't easy, but would be a lot harder without a friend to help bear the burden of life.

There's so much comedy in this play, and comedy that I am sure that most of us can relate to, but on the flick of a switch sadness and heartbreak is just around the corner, especially where love is concerned and discovering the real you.

I mentioned language, some of which is quite raw and fruity, but nothing worse than you'd hear nowadays in a school playground, but I love that playwrights like Jane write what they know, and the language is all Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire sayings and dialect. 

Katie Redford is Jess, and coming from Long Eaton knows the accent well. Her acting doesn't seem like acting because of the naturalness of the situations and, along with Benedict Salter is Billy, they create a wonderfully believable coupling. Their teasing and laughter, their partying as well as the fallings out and big bust ups all are very credible, which makes this play such a warm and heart warming piece of theatre. Certain scenes from this friendship just make you want to give both a big bearhug for the scenes and situations they find themselves, especially after an emotional revelation by Billy near the end of the play.

Directed by Hannah Stone, who brings the rapidity of the intended snapshots, or scenes from the forty years or so the story covers, to life. This is done with a quick succession of light and sound cues to start and end the life segment for that stage. It is very pacy, but also allows the more emotive scenes time to breath.

Abby Clarke's set design somehow seems to make the Neville Suite seem so much bigger with this design. WARNING! Don't have too much to drink before seeing this because the set may mess with your mind. The monochrome set has only a few pieces of furniture - a bed, chest of drawers, a desk, a chair, but all of these have been slightly altered... I won't say how as I wouldn't want to spoil the effect. But take a closer look at the floor of the stage as well as the walls and every little square is a picture, depicting a different scene from Billy and Jess's friendship.

Lighting Designer is Alex Musgrave. This is where that rapidity becomes so effective with blackouts timed seamlessly with music stabs to create the impression of time.

Sound design is by Ellie Isherwood, who also composed the original music for this play. In between though is a soundtrack that really took me back to my younger days with some excellent choices of big chart hits from the likes of Pulp and Underworld among them.

Stage managed by Vivi Wei. The fixed furniture items in the set design allow props to be hidden and retrieved easily for the particular scenes, but it's the quick stage exits and entrances that ensures the flow of this story, and making sure that these exits and entrances are available to Katie and Benedict is vital to the pace of this play, so stage management is very important to both actors.

I love theatre plays, and especially plays that are new, like this one, that give you something to think about, and this play gives you plenty to think about when it comes to having people around you that you know and can trust, and who know you. This play highlights the importance of this and makes you evaluate who you have in your life.

Written using some of Jane's own life experiences, it also shows the importance of believing in yourself, and others. It also shows why Jane Upton is one of Nottinghamshire's true gems, and this play shows why she has won so many awards for her work. The rawness, the passion and the fun that her plays and stories deliver, and most of all the real and human face of life.

On Tuesday 2 June there's also a Touch Tour enabling Blind and partially sighted people to explore the stage, set, props and costumes before attending the show. Touch Tours are free and take place one and a half hours before the Audio Described performance starts and can be booked via the Playhouse website.

The play runs for a little over an hour and a half without interval and is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Friday 12 June.

Photography by Pamela Raith.