Theatre review: Out of Water

In a South Shields school that's permanently getting "Requires Improvement" on its OFSTED reports, teacher Claire (Lucy Briggs-Owen) has been brought in to pilot an inclusion class scheme that's been successful elsewhere at turning round the fortunes of the most neglected students. It's not an obvious place for a pregnant, middle class lesbian to move to, and she's palpably nervous about how she'll be received there, but it's where her policewoman wife Kit (Zoe West) grew up, and she's convinced Claire it could be the place to start their family. Out of Water is the new play by Zoe Cooper, whose last play at the Orange Tree was Jess and Joe Forever, which means this an exciting prospect, but also has a lot to live up to. As in Cooper's earlier play this is a storytelling form of theatre, with Claire and Kit narrating fairly recent events, reliving their own part in them and taking on the other characters as needed.

This time around there's a third narrator, Fish (Tilda Wickham,) a gender non-binary pupil Claire has added to her classes, who loves swimming in the freezing sea and is obsessed with evolution.

The two interests aren't unconnected: What fascinates Fish is the theory that the missing link between apes and humans is what's known as the Aquatic Ape, a monkey that started foraging closer and closer to the sea until the species eventually lived most of its time in the water. Fish feels in their affinity for the water a connection to ancestors down the millenia, and it's a highlight how subtly Cooper suggests this is all tied into their own exploration of gender: The gender dynamics of the early apes may have caused one female to take the step that kicked off an evolutionary leap, and Fish themself feels a continuing part of the evolution of human gender.

But these grand themes are something the play touches on gently, in the context of a very personal story. Claire and Kit's differences come to the fore once they've moved to the North East, with Claire's nervousness about how the locals will respond to her coming with a touch of snobbery, while Kit seems to expect her wife to adjust without a hitch to a very different environment than she's used to. If not quite as instantly lovable as their predecessors Jess and Joe, Cooper has still created another couple you want to root for, even if it's less clear how far this relationship will make it in the end.

Director Guy Jones once again proves himself adept at using simplicity to create intimacy - although where Camilla Clarke's set is concerned it's the deceptive kind of simplicity, what appears to be the stage stripped back to the bare bones does actually conceal the odd surprise. But with the actors mostly telling the story using props held in a series of buckets there is still a homemade feel to this that enhances the charm in the writing. And with theatres all over London (now including the Orange Tree) having rebranded their bathrooms to be gender non-binary, Cooper continues to lead the charge of not just paying lip service but putting these stories centre stage, with another play that puts gender diversity at the heart of the story so casually that it highlights how ridiculous people's objections to it are.

Out of Water by Zoe Cooper is booking until the 1st of June at the Orange Tree Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including interval

Photo credit: The Other Richard.