Burn it
Navigating friendship is hard enough, but when the feelings are more than platonic, it becomes more challenging. Burn it is a story of two best friends away on a camping trip after break-ups and abusive relationships. Writer Lydia Kuelsen is Cam, full of confidence as the organiser of the trip, bursting with plans of where to go and what to do. Stevie McKeon is Jayden, who hates camping, and is not thrilled with the idea of walking to a waterfall. So they day-drink instead.
Of course, conversation soon turns to questions of ‘when are you going to admit to yourself…?’ – playfully at first, but it darkens quickly, and Cam and Jayden are opening up to each other about their previous relationships, their current feelings, and their fears of their futures.
The conversations meander and flit between disparate topics realistically, just as best friends would, who know each other so well that full context isn’t necessary. Burn it treads a fine line between explaining everything to the audience and keeping it real with the friendship that would already know the back-stories.
The relationship between Jayden and Cam is so wonderfully evocative of a deep friendship on the edge of something more. A lingering look, flirty one-liners, an exaggerated tease that silences the laughter to become deadly serious – it’s a wobbly tight-rope that Kuelsen and McKeon walk skilfully.
Revelations of abuse, struggles with mental health and other disorders are made tentatively and are ominous and real. McKeon shows a remarkable emotional range on Jayden’s personal rollercoaster, her descent from loud laughter to quiet fear is heartfelt and uncomfortably relatable. Kuelsen tells more with less – their facial expressions are nuanced, and Cam’s quieter and controlled default gives more room to shock when they’re pushed beyond calm. Together they are a wonderful pairing, with characters that we care for, and we want them to be successful together.
It challenges us to look at our own relationships – friends and lovers – and ask ourselves if our behaviours and reactions are helping or hindering?
It’s cleverly written, created and presented here by an all-queer team, yet it’s smart enough to present relationship friction as universal, gender-blind, and this story works well for all combinations of gender and sexuality – both performers and audience. Burn it is great storytelling about beautiful friendships, awkward revelations, and real-life difficulties; it’s superbly inclusive and accessible for everyone and will have you still thinking about it long after the show is over.
Review by Mark Wickett
Photo Credit: @itslachiej / Lachie J
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