Girl Out of the Blue – Theatre at the Tabard review

Seeta Indrani (Maya) and Jonathan Sidgwick (Doug)

An intriguing paternity mystery at the Tabard that settles for a gentle, low-key payoff

Girl Out of the Blue by Giles Cole, now playing at the Tabard Theatre, starts promisingly if a little oddly (more of that later) when teenage Abi meets foreign correspondent journalist Doug in a wine bar.

He is expecting some kind of scoop: “You had a story for me… about domestic abuse?” Abi is elusive and seems to be scoping him out, she says she is “asking for a friend,” but for what isn’t clear. What he isn’t expecting is the deeply personal thunderbolt coming his way when she says, “I think I’m your daughter.”

Miranda Braun (Abi)

Doug is shocked and disbelieving and like him, we have no idea whether her assertion is true. The truth will out, of course, but only after two rather drawn-out hours.

The oddness of the opening is in the contrasting styles of the performances. Miranda Braun as Abi is quiet, shy even and is in stark contrast to Jonathan Sidgwick’s Doug who is confident and has presence.

Back home, Abi’s mother Beth, played by the ever-reliable Sarah Berger, is an all-day dressing gowned drunkard with one of those stage phones that you just have to stab three times with your finger to be instantly connected to someone.

She is none too pleased to hear of Abi’s frolic and clearly has no interest in revisiting the past and certainly no intention to tangle with the errant Doug again. “He wasn’t a good man,” she insists.

Doug himself is now 18 years married to Maya, played by Seeta Indrani whose perkily post-coital entrance followed by a lasciviously grinning Doug suggests that those 18 years have done nothing to cool their mutual attraction. It’s a weird, lovey-dovey moment, made weirder when Indrani plays the rest of her scenes in such a low key as to be often almost inaudible.

It’s not a bad set up but it doesn’t really ever take off; scenes end on a downward note and much of the dialogue is inconsequential. There is some tension in the build up to the resolution of the question of Abi’s parentage but even then the play avoids an emotional payoff and peters out in bathos.

This is a middle of the road, cosy domestic drama that plays like an old-school sit-com and won’t frighten the horses. Perhaps it’s just not my cup of tea, but the audience around me seemed to enjoy it.

Girl Out of the Blue plays to 10 October.

Book tickets: Girl Out of the Blue

Simon Thomsett has worked in the professional theatre for a number of years. He started out as a stage manager and technician then became a venue director and producer, notably at the Hackney Empire, Fairfield Halls and most recently the New Victoria Theatre in Woking.

He now works as a consultant and on some small scale producing projects. He is a Chiswick resident and a passionate advocate for great theatre.