Review: Pick n Mix by Kat Rose-Martin

The back cover of this brilliant new play describes its author, Kat Rose-Martin, as a ‘Bradford lass born and bred.’ This earthy, salty description is entirely apt for a play which is set in Bradford and gives power and agency to its entirely relatable female characters. Perhaps it’s unfair to make direct comparisons between authors but Rose-Martin shares a geographical and literary heritage with the brilliant, late Andrea Dunbar. Her characters are funny and foul-mouthed, but there’s real stagecraft here and this is also a play with something to say.

The play starts with its heroines, Alisha, Kim and Olivia, in different toilet cubicles. It’s smart, frank and properly funny – right from the off. They all fancy local lad Jordan, the sort of plausible teenager who could charm these girls but whose flaws and issues we can see a mile off. Without giving too much away, it’s a complex exploration of friendship and the testing of loyalty.

A recent tour of the play in Leeds and Bradford will have almost certainly sharpened the dialogue and characters and what we see here is flinty and real. Alisha, Kim and Olivia speak like actual teenage girls, rather than the cyphers which are sometimes created by lazy male dramatists. Some moments veer towards the sitcom and televisual styles and these are perhaps less fully convincing, but a climatic showdown between Olivia and Kim is the real deal. ‘Am I old enough to bring up a child? I don’t f***ing know. Are you old enough to be on Tinder?’, they argue. By contrast, the male characters, Jordan and savvy pizza delivery boy Kash, are flawed but equally real.

This play would be a gift for confident A Level Drama students looking to be pushed, or perhaps GCSE students. The subject matter and frequent swearing (completely purposeful and very funny) might make some teachers flinch, but I’d encourage people to look at the powerful messages in the play and its championing of its rich and nuanced female protagonists with all their flaws and inconsistencies. You can trace a literary heritage here from Shelagh Delaney and Andrea Dunbar to Stella Feehily via Rebecca Pritchard, whose Royal Court play Essex Girls dealt with similar territory with similar frankness and honesty.

Rose-Martin’s play is absolutely a play for right now. I hope it has a life beyond its recent tour. It would make a real connection with audiences everywhere.