THEATRE REVIEW - Flat, Pink Roses The University Of Manchester Drama Society (UMDS)

The latest play from The University Of Manchester Drama Society (UMDS) was a paean to motherhood - a one act, 60-minute outpouring - by Isabel MacIntosh, called, 'Flat, Pink Roses'.

We are at the flat of Iris (Freya McCourt) and Alex (Louie Robinson), two university students and lovers who seem to be at a bit of an impasse in their relationship. Their university friends Paige (Harper Towns) and Ava (Bea Page) are on hand to offer support, but somehow Iris keeps sinking deeper and deeper into a morass of her own creating. It seems that three years ago she had a big argument with her mother, and now, on the day of her 21st birthday, she is missing her mother and the relationship they once had. She might also be going mad - (a loud buzzing sound interrupts her speaking and our listening too) - she starts to hear things differently from what they were said imagining hatred between these girls when there was none there. She is a lesbian and has never wanted children, but suddenly now, she has a yearning to experience motherhood and understand it in the way her mother must have understood it for her when she was a baby and young child. 

Directed by MacIntosh, the dialogue is precise and clear, with the four girls' characters easily defined and their relationships with each other nicely placed. The script is a mixture between conventional fourth-wall acting and soliloquy. These are spoken to an imaginary audience in the far distance and McCourt handles them all well. There is a strange section in the middle where all four stand facing the audience delivering a monologue, but have they changed their characters? They speak of husbands, children, childbirth from their own experiences, and this is not clear. 

The stage, and indeed the whole auditorium is dressed as if we were inside a students' flat with paraphernalia and memorabilia such as posters, photos, candles, decorations, plants etc...and there was a huge LGBTQ flag on one wall; this worked well, but working less well was a sofa pointing directly towards the audience. What was the sofa facing?

I felt the opening sequence of the recorded message was a little too long, and that the ending was not entirely satisfactory in terms of closure or conclusion, but the four actresses coped with this rather wordy and worthy script well, with McCourt especially getting under the script's skin.

Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu

on - 26.3.25