Dirty pretty nails

In a meagre apartment, a man (Daniel Gillett) is lying in his bath, fully clothed and listening to a classical music station on his poorly tuned in radio. As he climbs out of the bath we become aware that he is paraplegic. A young carer / nurse (Kelly Paterniti) arrives to help him dress and to offer companionship, however, this handsome man who has been cut down at his prime, understandably has several chips on his shoulders. Most of all he misses his regular sex life. Now, alone with no visitors, the only way (well there was one other ‘in your face’ way) that he can get some sexual arousal is to talk dirty to this teenage carer.

The girl has looked after a sick relative day and night for many years, and so has had few experiences with men of her own age. She is a delicate, finely built young woman, but she can certainly give as good as she gets! Will this rocky relationship develop into a love affair?

I have seen three or four plays by Andy Harmsen and all are in a style similar to Edward Albee; there is always a dark relationship. This was no exception; the couple’s love hate relationship was akin to that of Martha and George in ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf’.

The audience left the theatre drained after the 65 minutes of unrelenting, powerfully written script. Some sort of light-hearted break midway would have been not only a relief, but allowed the audience to refocus.

The acting was excellent, with Daniel giving a most convincing performance as the disabled man. Kelly was a winner of Storm the Stage in 2005.

Did I enjoy it? Not quite the correct expression to use, but I was entranced and it held me for the full stretch, thanks to the energy of the couple. This is a play that you will either love of hate.