Beautiful, sad and effortlessly enthralling, Bunny is one of Jack Thorne's best works writes Dominic diNezza.
Hard as it is to pick a highlight from the stellar career of Jack Thorne, this Fringe First-winning monologue does suggest itself an obvious tipping point, coming as it did just after the initial run of Channel 4’s Cast Offs (which Thorne co-created) and shortly before his collaborations on This is England ’86.
At its best, Bunny does indeed feel like the work of an excellent writer at the peak of his powers. Katie - a terrific, magnetically-watchable Rosie Wyatt - relates to us a tale of small-town machismo and sexual politics, which serves to neatly outline the manifold, furious neuroses of a terrified girl on the brink of adulthood.
The second half especially is taut, unpredictable and effortlessly enthralling, making up admirably for an opening that occasionally stumbles with its attempts at self-conscious humour. There is possibly a little too much channelling of Josie Long, rather bluntly inviting us to laugh at Katie’s naïveté, but otherwise director Joe Murphy handles the naturally problematic pacing of a one-person show extremely well.
The only other drawback is Ian William Galloway’s backdrop of Jenny Turner’s self-generating line-drawings of the major inner-Luton locations, which never finds a happy balance between stark and distractingly twee. It’s clearly crafted with love, though, which is fitting for the beautifully sad story of a lonely girl who was never given enough.
Bunny runs at Soho Theatre until 29th October.
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