PPP: Cheapo
★★★☆☆ Promising
Traverse: Tue 7 – Sat 10 Oct 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Cheapo by Katy Nixon impresses in the way it deals with serious issues, even if it decidedly runs out of steam. The latest Play, Pie and a Pint from Òran Mór and Aberdeen Performing Arts at the Traverse is well acted and full of life but has something of an unfinished feel.
Jamie (Testimony Adegbite) is in the fried chicken shop, waiting to play chess with his classmate Zeke. But it isn’t Zeke who turns up for a game; rather it’s Kyla (Yolanda Mitchell), apparently full of bravado, teasing Jamie by calling him ‘Sheldon’ in reference to the character from The Big Bang Theory.
Testimony Adegbite and Yolanda Mitchell. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Yet it soon becomes clear that Kyla has been the victim of a sexual assault that led to Jamie calling the police. And Kyla seems to be siding with her attackers, pressuring Jamie to retract his statement. A bewildered Jamie is determined to tell the truth even if ‘snitches get stitches’.
Nixon’s writing is lively, and deals unflinchingly with the dark side of modern teenage life – the pressure to conform, racism, misogyny and the horrors of the ‘manosphere’.
The dialogue is always compelling and well written, and the characters are believable, rounded and nuanced. However, the play as a whole does not really hold together.
clunky
The language of chess, mirrored by Gillian Argo’s inventive set design, seems as if it is going to dominate the narrative. (Apparently, ‘cheapo’ is a term for a basic trap constructed by a losing player in order to fool an opponent, although this is not made clear in the play.)
However, the chess metaphors tend to be on the clunky side and are eventually forgotten about, as a discussion of parallel universes leads to some ill-advised fantasy sequences that give every impression of being there solely to pad out the running time.
Testimony Adegbite and Yolanda Mitchell. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Having set up such an intriguing premise, the storyline then shies away from it somewhat, meaning that there are some tonal shifts that do not always come off in a play whose lack of plot development is always going to be a drawback. The ending, when it comes, appears more or less out of nowhere and does not entirely make sense.
Brian Logan’s direction is consistently energetic, and the two performances are very good. Adegbite is persuasive as the nervous Jamie, while Mitchell’s portrayal of the outwardly confident, inwardly damaged Kyla rings horribly true.
There is certainly a great deal of potential here, but as yet it is not entirely convincing.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED
Tuesday 7 – Saturday 10 October 2025
Daily at 1.00 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
The Lemon Tree, 5 West North Street, AB24 5AT Aberdeen
Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 October 2025
Tue – Fri : 6pm; Thurs, Sat: 1pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
ENDS
