Evergreen at Shoebox Theatre 

By Kelly Jobanputra

A raw, gritty and powerful love story gripped the audience as soon as it started at the Shoebox Theatre in Swindon on Saturday night.

TS Theatre Productions' Evergreen, which is a love story by Peter Hynds, was in your face from the very start and it was immediately obvious why this was an adult only performance.

It certainly wasn't for the prudish type, because the audience were greeted with the sight of the two actors in a state of undress as they spoke in brutally bold terminology.

The two performers were Becci Smith, who played the part of Gina, and Pete Hynds himself, who decided to return to the stage to play the part of Lawrence after a break from acting to focus on writing plays.

Both Becci and Pete are exceptional performers who definitely entertained the whole audience throughout the night, sometimes with laughs and other times with gasps. And the director, Sarah Lewis, clearly knows how to get the best out of her cast.

This was a play that was billed as being about love for the Tinder generation and as we saw how this couple first met in a bar after finding each other on that online dating site, you quickly got a feel for their opposite personalities. She was bold and in your face, he was more reserved and nervous.

The fact that the Shoebox Theatre is so small and you felt like you were sat in someone's living room when you were watching this play, gave the night an even more intimate feel. We were so close to the set that we were almost in their laps.

There were several outfit changes and lots of underwear on show and each transformation (alongside some music) cleverly marked the beginning of a new scene.

This was the sort of production that led you to wonder why something went wrong with the relationship. They seemed so loved up, what could cause any aggravation? You knew it ends up going down south eventually though due to how the beginning of the play actually started at the end - where they were both frantic about their situation. And to be honest, I had this uneasy sense of how something was about to revealed at any moment during the entire performance.

It was a sexy and intriguing play and the ending of this love story left me analysing what Lawrence was about to do next. Would he stay? Would he go? Was that really the end of the performance or was it a second interval?

But as the house lights came up, signalling an obvious end to the night, it was apparent that the audience were all clearly entertained and i had the strong feeling that people wanted to see more.

So to sum up - Peter Hynds came out on top with another fantastically enticing play and chose the perfect accompanying actress to help carry it all off. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.