Stage-to-screen review: Monday Monologues

A quick roundup of a series of very short pieces courtesy of the Bush Theatre, which posted a new YouTube video every few weeks over the summer as their contribution to keeping theatre in people's minds and lives over lockdown. And lockdown is very specifically the theme of most of the Monday Monologues, beginning with Skype d8 by Travis Alabanza, in which Ibinabo Jack plays a woman fretting over what to wear for a virtual date with a man she'd only met a couple of times in person. It's frantic and funny as Jack's character recognises the ridiculousness of how much time she's spending making a good impression on Skype, but it does reveal an underside about how the starkness of having to deal with people virtually makes people feel exposed in a way face-to-face communication smooths out. The Bush's artistic director Lynette Linton directs most of the videos including this and the second, Shaun Dunne's Beds.

This is a more wistful affair as Patrick "the one with the arse out of The OA" Gibson plays a man reminiscing over a recently-ended relationship, with particular reference to the bed and other household items they bought together, and all of which his ex seems to have held on to after the breakup. He does vaguely wish that everything they owned together gets water-damage and needs to be thrown away although it doesn't seem to be a particularly malicious wish; more that once the shared belongings are gone, they can both move on.

Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu writes and directs Clarissa, in which Instagrammer Tekeshi (Maymuna Abdi) lets the brash mask slip to relay a traumatic night out that ended with a moment of peace courtesy of the titular old lady, who may or may not have been a ghost. And Anjana Vasan brings a real sweetness to someone else parted at the early stages of a new relationship by lockdown, as the narrator of Natasha Brown's Contradictions, feeling heightened emotions whenever she thinks of the man she's leaving this message to, but insisting this doesn't mean she's in love.

Anything for Cash written by Sophie Ellerby and directed by Daniel Bailey is only slightly longer than most of the other monologues but feels like it covers so much more ground - the most overtly political of the pieces, perhaps because it's the last and there'd been time to get angry about the government actions, or notable absence of them, over the pandemic: It covers everything from the lack of support for people suddenly left with no source of income to the rise in people becoming online sex workers as a response, with Stefan Adegbola as man who's been having a long-term affair with a high-profile married politician. As his lover becomes a regular face in the government's daily briefings, so Adegbola's character sees less and less of him when he most needs his support. Released as they were gradually, these snapshots of lockdown show an increasing sense of unease and unrest, but also a feeling that hope doesn't have to die.

Monday Monologues by Travis Alabanza, Shaun Dunne, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, Natasha Brown and Sophie Ellerby are available until the 18th of May on the Bush Theatre's YouTube channel.

Running time: 5 minutes (Skype d8 and Beds,) 6 minutes (Clarissa,) 3 minutes (Contradictions) and 8 minutes (Anything for Cash.)