By Laura Kressly

Marnie and Jen are sisters and the best of friends. They share a flat, dating stories and countless nights out. There isn’t anything they don’t know about each other – until Marnie casually mentions a doctor’s appointment she has coming up. 

The younger Jen is an actor and very much relies on her older sister in the way she would her mum. Marnie is a teacher and seems to have her life sorted, often dreaming of a future with Mr Right and 2.4 children. Short scenes show them at home, on double dates or nights out and Jen is, more often than not, a steaming hot mess. The two actors share a lovely chemistry and make convincing siblings.

The story is a fairly conventional, formulaic one of coming to terms with devastating, personal news, though this one also serves to raise awareness of an uncommon women’s health condition. It encourages people to go to doctors when they first realise something might be wrong, as waiting can make things worse or less likely to be fixed. 

Setting much of the story in and around toilets gives it a bit more vulnerability and some scope for humour, but otherwise there’s not a lot that makes this story stand out dramaturgically. It’s constructed and performed well, but there isn’t anything in the script or production that gives it the wow factor.

Flushed runs through 26 August.

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