Two androgynous figures stand in the centre of the stage, they wear grey tops and billowing trousers that look like skirts. This active theatre production depicts the story of their relationship in snatched memories.
To the sound of eerie music, they twist and slide around each other and fight playfully. They are learning to love each other, the more childish and wide-eyed Oran played by Reuben Oladehin and the more experienced Ezekial, played by Max Burns calling each other pet names: ‘scratchy soily bird boy’ and ‘old dirty slimy worm man.’
The zestful and energetic relationship of physical theatre with athletic dancing and leap frogging progresses to a more poisonous discourse, some of which are said in the programme notes to be taken verbatim from words exchanged between one of the playwrights, T.J.Roderick, and an ex-partner. Maybe this is where ‘I’m not sure you excite me’ and ‘I’m used to the conventional sort of pretty’ come from. As they explore their relationship one man’s ‘I love you’ becomes the other’s ‘I like you a lot.’
The lightbulbs of the title are the lightbulb moments that everyone remembers from early in a relationship: the dancefloor, the rest after a walk in the country, spectacular sex.  Then the cherished moments are supplemented by the first indifference, the first betrayal…
The lightbulbs are also the characters themselves, coming alight in the relationship. A continuing metaphor is of the moth (imitated by the actor’s fingers) attracted to the flame, as moths are attracted to lightbulbs. They can bathe in its light of be snuffed out by it. The moth is symbolic of the fragility and brief life of a relationship.
This production looks at the big issues of human contact and aloneness. It is billed as celebrating a queer love story, but the message is universal and applicable to any modern relationship or ‘situationship’ where intimacy is present but commitment is lacking.
The tyranny of narrative has certainly had its marching orders with this production which does not try to tell a story of a relationship so much as to depict it.
The production stutters a long in the same way as the relationship, leaving us with a disconnected play. Despite the raw and intense performances, these talented actors cannot save the dialogue.
Playwright: T.J.Roderick, Heather Woodhouse
Director: T.J.Roderick
Cast: Reuben Oladehin, Max Burns
Duration: 55 minutes
Until: 23 August 2025