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A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
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Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Description: You Need Me presents Emily Watson Howes's drama about a Welsh teenager who falls in love with a trainee RAF pilot during the second world war.
Trains: BR: Dalston Kingsland 
Phone: 0207503 1646
Website: www.arcolatheatre.com
Extra info: Food, Pub
Struggling sisters: Rosamond Martin and Kate Hewitt
How did it end? Well or badly? Too abruptly, for sure, but I won’t give anything else away. This whimsical exploration of a Second World War romance is so gently compelling that, despite the odds stacked against the unlikely partnership, we long for smiles at the conclusion.
There are unmistakable echoes of Dancing at Lughnasa, as five Welsh sisters, orphaned too young and brought up by eldest sibling Nerys (Fran Moulds), make do and mend in an “afterthought town”.
Pretty Lillian (Kate Hewitt) catches the eye of French pilot Raymond (Roger Ribó) at a dance and after a whirlwind three-week romance they marry. However, the war is nearly over and Raymond’s longed-for home is an ocean away.
There’s no doubting the promise in this slight but sweet debut piece from You Need Me, yet the company’s stated aim of fusing devised and scripted work needs further refinement. There are lots of self‑conscious physical and storytelling theatre tricks on display in this production from Emily Watson Howes, who also wrote what little script there is. Eye-catching as this often is, not least when the sisters curl around each other in the same bed, many are the times when we long for a little less billowing of sheets and a touch more speaking of words.
Hewitt and Ribó are superb at using body language to illustrate how the language of love — she speaks no French, he halting English — turns out to be about as much practical use as Esperanto.
Moulds, all brusque love, wonderfully suggests a woman who has had responsibility thrust upon her too early and there’s deft support from the other scampering sisters. Tom Morris, associate director at the National Theatre, has marked this company out as one to watch, and it’s hard to disagree with his assessment.
Until 14 March (020 7503 1646, www.arcolatheatre.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
