Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *
Cast: Angela Simms, Daniel O’Brien
Can two friends of the opposite sex ever really be friends, especially when one is straight and one is gay? Joanne Sherryden’s play The Rainbow Connection looks at life and friendship between Shelly, a woman who has been scarred early in her time and who is hanging on the end of a line by her married lover and Joe, an agoraphobic and badly bruised by life and whose obsessive behaviour threatens to drive him further into his own self made prison.
The result is something less complicated than might be imaged as over time this very odd but beautifully presented couple start to see between the habits and reckless fallibility and start to genuinely care about each other. Not so much as can a woman and a man be friends but can they live without each other without becoming anything more.
The Rainbow Connection veered superbly between up close intensity and the need to laugh with tears of affection and a little sadness for both characters as little by little they learn about what is right for them. This was only possible by the sharp writing and splendid portrayals by both actors, the gracious Angela Simms who melted the heart as the woman hell bent on getting her gay friend to let go of the past and the equally marvellous Daniel O’Brien as the wounded Joe. In equal measure it was impossible not to like the pair for everything they bought to the show.
The Rainbow Connection hit exactly the right tone between wonderful sentimentality and undisguised 21st century romanticism. Both actors, Director Paul Goetzee and the Writer Joanne Sherryden should feel very proud and be congratulated for making this production reach into places in people that few others even dare attempt.
From start to finish The Rainbow Connection struck a very high note, full of colour, great lines and well observed look at life between two friends who in their hours of need, found friendship and more than something to bring them together. Wonderful and charming, a real class act!
Ian D. Hall