The Village Bike

Becky (Ella Caldwell) is a young, pregnant school teacher who finds herself sexually unfulfilled by her husband John (Richard Davies), whose priorities are now reading baby books and saving the environment. Her pregnancy anxieties are amplified when their well-meaning neighbour Jenny (Natasha Herbert) drops off a bunch of baby accessories she no longer needs.

Becky meets the village eccentric, Oliver (Matt Dyktynski), when he sells her his wife's old bike — a symbol of freedom and exploration in a boring town, and an on-the-nose metaphor — and decides to act on some of her fantasies with him while his wife's away, with the understanding they'll stop when she gets back; of course, this doesn't go as planned.

The quirky set by Sophie Woodward is immersive, an intimate look into the loft of John and Becky. We're literally peering into their home and bedroom, voyeurs and witnesses to indiscretions, suppressed urges and compartmentalised insecurities.   

Penelope Skinner's script is effortlessly hilarious, filled with innuendos, twists and awkward moments, which director Ngaire Dawn Fair plays up whenever possible. Dyktynski excels as the slimy Oliver, and Davies' loveable, mildly infuriating, doting goofball character elicits laughter with every second line. Caldwell plays Becky inconsistently, fluctuating between natural and convincing, and slightly heavy-handed; overall, considering the spectrum of emotions Becky has coiled up inside her, it's nonetheless an admirable performance. Unfortunately, when all the action in the play comes to a head, we are not given a satisfying conclusion — but perhaps Skinner doesn't offer one to hammer home the point that relationships are unpredictable and conflicting desires are inevitable.