A to B review – relentless mishaps as nothing goes to plan on blind date
Told through two overlapping monologues, Brianna and Armani prepare for a night that could change the course of their lives
All the nerves, hope and anticipation of getting ready for a date melt together in Tia-Renee Mullings’s coming-of-age play. Told through two separate, overlapping monologues, Brianna (Zakiyyah Dean) and Armani (Sheyi Cole) prepare for a night that could change the course of their lives for the better. Or it could go horribly wrong. Who knows? Set up on a blind date by mutual friends, they have only a photo of their prospective partner to go on.
It’s a premise that many searching for love in today’s dating app-fuelled world will recognise. But that anxiety isn’t enough to sustain momentum across the play’s 80-minute running time. For Brianna and Armani, nothing seems to be going to plan. Brianna’s younger sisters steal and destroy her carefully chosen outfit – a nightmare for a perfectionist like her – before an unfortunate encounter with water guns completely ruins her hair. Meanwhile, Armani misses his barber’s appointment and ends up with the worst trim of his life. After a while, though, the relentless string of mishaps becomes predictable, and things begin to feel as though they’re running in circles.
Keeping up appearances is armour for both Armani and Brianna, but to get to the core of who they are, we long to hear something a little deeper. Occasionally, we catch a flicker of what lies beneath the surface: when she admits she’s lost in a forest, Dean reveals Brianna as someone eager to be loved, while Cole’s Armani dares to hope that his date will see beyond the image he’s worked hard, but failed, to perfect.
Directed by Ewa Dina, time-stamps flash on a screen to mark the passing of the day. Dean and Cole take it in turns to narrate their stories, with the script singing through lyrical spoken-word passages and rhythmic exchanges. As well as being an ode to the feeling of budding romance, Mullings’s words pulse with the textures of life in south London. British Jamaican life is drawn in vibrant shades. This is the beginning of a beautiful modern love story – we just need a little more of the story for it to feel complete.