12 Sep 2026
issue 12 September 2026
Comments
The National Theatre’s latest show, written in 2003, has bundles of energy and ideas. A thrusting young reporter, Yvonne, investigates the shooting of a yuppie in a rundown part of a teeming US metropolis. She learns that the murder was committed by a cross-dressing gang of all-female muggers, known as AOBs, whose leader, Latisha, is a teenage genius. Her parents were alcoholic derelicts and yet she taught herself several European languages while growing up in poverty.
Yvonne, who also happens to be multilingual, banters with her in Italian and German. But will Latisha confess and give the newspaper an exclusive? To complicate matters, Yvonne is secretly entangled with the paper’s super-wealthy owner but this doesn’t stop her flirting with a camp colleague, Neil, who takes her out to expensive bars. ‘Bitch has no sense of humour,’ mutters Neil as he buys her yet another cocktail. He’s dead right about Yvonne who seems earnest, manipulative and smug.
