Mike Bartlett’s new comedy Unicorn has arrived in the West End with some fanfare, owing to its celebrity casting. Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan (both of The Split) play middle-aged, middle-class couple Polly and Nick, who are stuck in a rut. Looking to spice things up, Polly has been flirting with one of her mature students, Kate (Erin Doherty, of The Crown) – subsequently the suggestion of becoming a throuple is floated, and we watch as this idea is explored.
The title of the play is a reference to the fact that someone like Kate – a single woman fully open to the idea of becoming a third in a heterosexual marriage – is vanishingly rare. If we’re being honest, her character is quite implausible: she’s super confident, speaks brilliantly eloquently and always has the perfect answer to every question. We appreciated that she made some good observations, although we struggled to invest in her, as we didn’t find her believable.
We bought into Polly and Nick much more as the central couple – they have a great chemistry and are more nuanced as characters. We could see their flaws, their mistakes, and their insecurities, which lent them both a credibility which we found lacking in the too-good-to-be-true Kate. Unfortunately what this meant is that we felt more invested in the ‘conventional’ couple – resulting in the play feeling more like a consideration of a traditional marriage and how to get out of a rut, as opposed to a show committing to exploring polyamory.
The acting is very strong, so Unicorn still makes for an entertaining evening. There are some amusing lines and a handful of witty observations, which our actors deploy with impressive comic timing. We just wish Unicorn was a little bolder – for a play which is notionally a consideration of a throuple, for the most part it feels quite tame and conventional. Not bad, but a missed opportunity.
GAY TIMES gives Unicorn – 3/5
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