Rotterdam

Reviews / Votes

Jon Brittain's warm-hearted new play manages to speak eloquently about a complex issue while at the same time being properly laugh-out-loud funny. It's an arresting combination and likely to prove another winner . . . this is a very human play, one that never feels overtly issue-driven or forced. . . . Sweet, heartfelt and funny new play about gender, identity and love * Stage * a timely and heartwarming comedy. . . . The play is a fascinating - and very funny - examination of the labels society puts on people . . . But more importantly, it's about the labels we put on ourselves. . . . Brittain's script successfully combines laugh-out-loud humour and heartfelt emotion to tackle a serious, complex and extremely current subject. . . . funny, warm and honest * London Theatre 1 * smartly observed and very funny play . . . The reference to Europe's largest cargo port is a drama keenly concerned with transitions and upheaval - the displacement of individuals' baggage, and of society's. . . . a warm and emotionally intelligent piece, which proves questions about sexuality and the ways in which we articulate identity and desire. * Evening Standard * Rotterdam takes the format of a rom-com to raise thorny issues of gender, sexuality and identity with a light touch that is sensitive rather than superficial . . . Brittain's play is a shart and sassy contemporary take on the fluidity of sexuality with loads of laugh-out-loud moments that don't belittle its essentially serious themes. Beautifully constructed with surprising but credible plot twists, Rotterdam is a warmly engaging account of the complexities of relationships that balances humour with pathos so that you care for the characters. * Londonist * very funny, engaging and sharply observant about human nature * Guardian * It humanises and empathises - and forces its audience to do the same. [...] While the play sensitively probes the difficulties of being gay and of being transgender, Brittain never lets the seriousness drown out the humour. . . . Brittain's play is another reminder - warm, witty and wise - of the stupidity of thinking that there are only two genders. He has an eye for tenderness . . . and an ear for the undulations of couples' conversations. * Time Out London *