Local troupe The Red Velvet Effect return to FRINGE WORLD with their new original, Dream Girl, a tale of teenage discovery, same sex love, rejection, and hope, in small town Australiana. We enter this world where everyone knows everyone, everyone defers to authority figures, and societal norms and conformity are slowly squeezing the life out of all they touch.

Into this gaping void arrive Belinda and Jess, the captain of the netball team and the principal’s daughter. One from a well-adjusted family who shrug their shoulders, easily accept lesbianism, and continue to unconditionally love, the other from uptight religious bigots, doing their utmost to pray the gay away.

Added to this central dynamic, a boy who fears being just a friend, the atypical nice guy who refuses to hear no, violating consent without a thought, his best friend who is the epitome of male gaze toxic masculinity, and the popular girl lashing out wildly from insecurity and jealousy.

A powder-keg of competing desires and wants. Anything below an A+ grade seen as a failure, the university applications already mapped out years in advance, rounding out the scholarship application with state championship sports. Church, golf, work. Repeat. Putting on the perfect front for town and school board.

And then love. So called “unnatural” love. An involuntary outing. It’s just a phase. School yard fights.

The storm of all this emotion roils around the audience. The awful pettiness of high school and teenage life, with every joy, every disappointment heightened to the extreme. An absolute whirlpool of despair. The truth shall set you free, they say. Even along our country’s back roads. It just hurts like heck getting there.

Wonderfully acted, wonderfully staged – the audience is surrounded on three sides in an imaginative and immersive way. Every cast member absolutely authentic and believable in their roles. Not so much pure enjoyment, as accurate in the most teeth-grinding uncomfortable way.