Eggs Aren't That Easy To Make - Jersey Underbelly Bristo Square - Edinburgh Fringe Review

It’s one drunken request, two best friends and three’s a crowd in Maria Teinikoff and Big Sofa Theatre’s new LGBTQ+ Rom Com ‘Eggs aren’t that easy to make’, playing in Jersey, Underbelly Bristo Square, which explores the difficulties of a lesbian couple trying to start a family.

At a University party, two newly single best friends Claire and Daniel come to a decision when Claire says If I am in a lesbian relationship when I’m thirty, I want you to be the sperm doner. Flash forward, and she is indeed in a lesbian relationship with love of her life Lou, but she’s forgotten that request from years before. But Daniel hasn’t, and he’s there maintaining his promise, attending the classes, reading the books, buying all of the baby prep stuff, but is it simply too much for Lou, and Daniel’s partner Naomi, to handle?

With its fringe typical running time of just one hour, there is a lot happening here and a lot to take in, but the four-person cast, combined with its simple nothing but a black box and a few yoga balls for chairs set, tell the entire tale without appearing rushed and without a single detail being brushed over. We see the relationship between Lou and Claire, tenderly, lovingly and honestly, and everything about this story is utterly believable.

Daniel is this bundle of energy, with some lines throughout that will have you bursting with laughter. Imagine a golden retriever that just wants to be involved with everything with a constant smile, and that’s Daniel. His maintained promise to be Claire’s sperm doner has him bursting with excitement, and deep down he knows that he shouldn’t be too involved, but he just can’t help himself. It’s just too exciting. The realism comes in the combination of this uncontrollable excitement with Lou’s worries about him becoming too much and Claire’s struggles to calm her best friend down and put him in his place. And in this production, all of these big feelings are perfectly balanced, culminating in this brilliantly funny and wonderfully truthful finale complete with some wickedly funny and clever moments.

Noami and Lou may prove to be this piece’s voices of reason, the balancers between Daniel’s excitement and Claire’s wanting to maintain both her relationship with Lou and her friendship with Daniel. Again, they bring in that sense of realism, discussing topics of importance in the trials and tribulations of starting families in today’s modern world; IVF, LGBTQ+ relationships and sperm banks, the want to have children versus the decision to not have children, it’s all there and it is all discussed with honesty and sensitivity.

‘Eggs aren’t that easy to make’ is simply smile inducing, with memorable lines, lovable believable characters and a heartwarming sense of normality. Not once is the fact that a same sex couple want a family questioned, the decision to have the best friend as the sperm doner is congratulated and open discussions between the two couples are commonplace. This is starting families in the 21^st century, normal, everyday, celebrated, welcomed, cheered on, and loved, and that in itself deserves all the praise that it can get.

Playing at Jersey, Underbelly Bristo Square, ‘Eggs aren’t that easy to make’ runs at 1pm through to August 25^th.