Frigid at Bewley’s Café Theatre review: Hilarious show captures the awfulness of adolescence

Until March 25

Rosa Bowden as Niamh O’Reilly in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

Rosa Bowden in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

Rosa Bowden as Niamh O’Reilly in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

Rosa Bowden in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

Rosa Bowden as Niamh O’Reilly in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

Katy Hayes

March 09 2023 02:23 PM

Writer-performer Rosa Bowden aims to score laughs, and this she does big-time with a sharp picture of Dublin teen life. Set in 2007, this is a look back at the “girl-power” generation, the pop-culture period that promoted the intrinsic value of girls and girls’ friendships but lacked any proper feminist bite: the power to be sexy but without any sense.

Upending this is Niamh O’Reilly, the brainy girl who is half-heartedly attempting to blend in with her peers by finding a boy to kiss. She goes to a friend’s house to get dressed up for the teen disco and the makeover is hilarious.

Niamh starts off looking like her demure self and soon transforms into a teenage exhibitionist with pink vest top, ultra mini skirt, and smoky eyes. Bowden is a winning and versatile performer: she creates a terrific character in Niamh, a smart girl trying to negotiate the path towards her true self without becoming a social pariah in a teen-world that loves, above all else, conformity with the pack.

There are affecting moments of anger, like when she arms herself with an imaginary sub-machine gun and annihilates all the boys. She also does a great job of performing a load of cameos, including the friend’s mum smoking a fag, the friend who is just like her mum, and several teenage boys.

Rosa Bowden in Frigid. Photo by Hazel Coonagh

The script captures the sheer awfulness of the adolescent period, with some merciless depiction of shaming and bullying. Bowden’s writing skills are impressive, and the show is adroitly time-stamped by Niamh receiving a letter from her future self in 2023, when her fabulous future includes being a human rights lawyer who is married to a film star.

A pleasing simple set involves helium lip balloons and a pink glitter backdrop. Sound design is by Ciaran Gallagher, who also DJs, and is a smooth presence throughout. Directed by Hildegard Ryan, the tone steers adroitly around sensitivities: whilst the picture of teen-girl life is exaggerated for comic effect, there are several terrifying grains of truth. This was a very worthy winner of the Bewley’s Little Gem award at the Dublin Fringe last autumn and is a terrific lunchtime entertainment.