Thursday night, I grabbed my friend Annie and headed over to The Lower Ossington Theatre’s Cabaret space to see the Canadian Premiere of Penelope Skinner’s Eigengrau. The venue matches this show perfectly, with groups of friends sitting around tables with shots of Jameson and mixed drinks, while a small apartment set is lit on stage.

The program includes a glossary to help us with some of the British slang and cultural references, but largely this is a world my generation knows all too well: Living with strangers from GumTree (the British Craigslist equivalent), stressing about paying rent, navigating love and sex and relationships.

The thing about Indie theatre is that there is a lot of freedom to perform provocative pieces. You can experiment, you can risk. Sometimes it’s horrible. In this case it results in a funny, twisted reflection of Gen-Y’s opinions and feelings about relationships and love. For an hour and forty minutes we were transported throughout London, jumping back and forth between apartments and feminism rallies and fast food restaurants. In apartment A we have Cassie the feminist and Rose the dreamer. In apartment B we have Jeff the suave businessman and Tim, the poor unemployed sweetheart who is still recovering from the death of his grandmother. They all fall for the wrong person, and (terribly dark) hijinks ensue.

The acting in this piece is really solid. Claire Armstrong’s Cassie is a strong and independent activist, frustrated for having personal desire outside of her ideals. Kristian Brunn is loveable and pure as Tim, and has one of the sweetest moments in the piece during his oddly heart-warming ending monologue. Jeff Irving plays Mark, who as my friend Annie put “You hate and then you kind of like and then you hate and you then really aren’t sure what to think of ” and he does a very nice job of just that. Arguably the funniest character is Rose (Helen Johns), a bit of an airhead obsessed with numerology and hiding from her creditors. The actors do a great job, and you are with these characters all the way.

I had a lot of fun at this show. There was a shocking twist that had Annie and I laughing and choking back more extreme exclamations. There are a few cringe worthy awkward moments. The plot is well crafted, and it’s not hard to see why the playwright Penelope Skinner has been praised in England for her fresh, strong writing. Don’t bring your grandma unless she is extremely liberal and hip, don’t bring a first date unless you want to get into a debate about feminism and true love right away. Eigengrau is the perfect night out with friends.

Eigengrau is playing at The Lower Ossington Theatre now until November 24th.

Performances at 7:30, Tuesday Nights 10pm

Tickets: $20/$10 Tuesdays. For tickets, click here.

~ Kristy Lapointe