Here, cryptic messages scribbled on the wall next to a tower block lift – "Remember you are beauty full"; "make all your dreams come true" – are used to set in motion Matthew McVarish's big-hearted comedy, featuring ex-River City star Claire Knight as frazzled, singleton divorcee Alanah.
As the stresses and strains of juggling her work at a family planning drop-in centre co-incide with planning her best friend Zoe's wedding, Alanah finds herself dredging up remembrances, and hopes, of things past, as she tries to guess who the author of these emotionally resonant psychological Post-it notes could be. Chief suspects include her mum, dad, ex-hubby "bawjaws", and even her dead Gran – all of whom she reaches out to in one way or another.
Directed with a fine lightness of touch by Maggie Kinloch, and full of choice, comic one-liners, as psychological dramas go, I doubt it will take anyone more than 15 minutes to work out what's what here. But then, the neatly tied up ending would suggest that isn't really the point anyway.
Knight turns in a wonderfully warm and witty performance, full of foul-mouthed charm, as bit by bit she peels away the various layers of a go-to character, full of advice for others, but whose own life has failed to live up to her expectations. What emerges is a character-driven piece, easily filed under crowd-pleasing and none the worse for that.
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