Let’s have a frank talk about sex

LOW LEVEL PANIC Orange Tree, Richmond

WHAT a wonderfully rich vein of form the Orange Tree has found this year. After the crafty topicality of Winter Solstice comes another mighty, cannily chosen drama, this time investigating the objectification of women. Clare McIntyre’s witty but ultimately sorrowful three-hander premiered at the Royal Court in 1988 but could just as easily have been written last week, for all the ongoing relevance of its concerns about the lot of the female of the species.

We’re in the bathroom of the flat shared by twentysomethings Jo (Katherine Pearce), Mary (Sophie Melville, so fine last year in Iphigenia in Splott) and Celia (Samantha Pearl). Jo is in the bath, talking frankly with Mary, perched on the windowsill, about sex. This sexual frankness, honest but without being sensational for sensation’s sake, is a refreshing through-line of the 80-minute piece, as the women discuss their confidence in — and fear of — their bodies, of being seen as selfdetermining sexual creatures.

Well, two of the women do; McIntyre’s one failing is to make

Celia something of a frustrating spare part who does little more than badger for her fair share of bathroom time. Jo and Mary, on the other hand, are beautifully and sensitively written; the former, wryly witty about the fact that she is slightly overweight, is sexually lonely, whereas Mary is sexually preyed upon. “I’m just a thing to f***,” she says, anxiety about the outside world rising with every passing minute.

Chelsea Walker’s confident production is blessed with two cherishable performances, from Melville and, above all, the wonderful Pearce, who is funny and vulnerable and really should be cast in just about everything from here on in. A triumphant evening.

Until March 25 (020 8940 3633, orangetreetheatre.co.uk)