From the Sex and the City jingle playing to the ‘Bella, where the hell have you been, loca?’ poster lining the wall, we expect to be firmly in sitcom territory in Emma-Louise Lerner’s We’ve Got Time. What unfolds is a sparkling, raw, and honest story of four twenty somethings navigating their relationships, careers, and sexuality.
Writer-actor Emma-Louise Lerner gives a powerful and emotional performance as Dani. Through Lerner’s fast talking and nervous mannerisms, Dani’s self-destructive tendencies become overwhelming as she experiences an identity crisis and grapples with grief. Dani’s stand-up sets slowly reveal the cracks in her put-together comedian persona, as she agonises over missed opportunities and roads not taken.
The play explores the many different experiences of being queer. When Dani’s best friend Molly jokes about how she no longer ‘counts’ as a gay woman after having a long-term boyfriend, we sit with her competing feelings — she can be in love with a man, and still regret not having pursued relationships with women. It is an experience that tends to be overlooked in queer pieces of media. The play does not impose solutions, but lingers in the fragments. Dani’s queerness is not diminished by her relationship with a man — a message all too important in an age of bisexual erasure.
The script places weight on Dani’s experience with endometriosis and how it affects her day-to-day life, leaving her with bouts of nausea and unable from performing her stand-up sets. It raises much-needed awareness about a condition so many remain clueless about.
The four characters’ relationships fluctuate, imitating the fractured chaos involved in navigating human connection. In navigating messy scenarios or making fun of each other, Dani’s friendship with Molly (Sophie Isbell) is a grounded and imperfect celebration of sisterhood. The instant romance between Molly and Tasha (Cassie Martin) blossoms from an intimate and endearing meet-cute, while Dani and Jarred’s unravels. When Jarred (Ben Paulk) unexpectedly delivers a stand-up set, Paulk combines impeccably timed comedy with tender moments when Jarred regrets abandoning his dreams.
Closing the play with a flashback, Dani and Molly are their bright-eyed 18-year-old selves, penning a list of things they want to achieve by 30. The backdrop of hand-drawn graphics captures this youthful innocence, and the scribbles popping up on the screen allow us an intimate glimpse into their diary entries. This scene is a quiet reminder that despite a constant ticking clock, it is never too late to explore your individuality and choose a different path. There is always time.
We’ve Got Time has finished its Fringe run.
Image by Jessica Osber, provided to The Student for press use.
