Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tickets and more information: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/call-me-vicky#overview
Booking until: 9th March 2019
Production Photos by: Fabio Santos
Run time: 80 mins

Set in 1980s South London, Call Me Vicky is the debut play by sisters Nicola & Stacy Bland following a young trans woman named Vicky as she begins her gender transition and the reaction from her friends and family. Taking place between Vicky’s council estate and the Golden Girl drag bar she works at, the play tackles themes such as drug abuse, family and love. Although the play is light hearted and funny in some places, at the heart of it the play is a hard hitting and frank look at what it was like to be a trans person in society in that time.

Playing the lead role of Vicky is Matt Greenwood who balances the fun loving side of Vicky with the cautious side perfectly. One could easily immerse themselves into the fun side too much to the point where Vicky’s heartbreak and sadness, particularly towards the end, wouldn’t be believable. But Matt doesn’t stray away from this and delivers a spectacular performance. Honorary mention must go to Wendi Peters as Vicky’s mum Sylvie who nailed the nuance comedy in her actions. Plus I felt like she really channeled every female adult in my life which made her performance all the more real for me. But I have to say Ben Welch as Fat Pearl, the owner of The Golden Girl, absolutely stole the show for me. He was so charismatic and engaging to watch that I wish Fat Pearl would get her own story some point down the line.

The small space at the Pleasance Theatre is perfectly fitting for Martha Heggarty’s drag bar set. I especially liked the tables that audience members could sit at to watch the performance which created a sort of immersive like experience. The interactions Fat Pearl was having with the audience made the show all the more fun to watch. That said, you can tell that the more serious scenes were very much handled sensitively by Nicola & Stacy Bland which further enhances how much this really is a fantastic play. Definitely one to catch while you can and I hope this is a wake up call for more theatres to start producing more trans stories on stage.

Until next time,