With some garish purple lights, an aggressive dance beat and a single exercise bike, the Jade Studio at Greenside has been transformed into the SpinQueen exercise studio. The audience take the role of the participants (thankfully, allowed to just sit in chairs). Little do they know that in the next hour they are about to witness a profound ego death.
Megan Tomei stars as “Meg”, an LA spin instructor, self-confessed overachiever and a classic caricature of the exercise class cult leader. She launches into a high-energy monologue with the cadence of a street preacher, her stereotypical SoCal vocal fry pushed to its absolute moooooost draaaaawn ouuut limiiiiit!!! Whilst backhanded compliments and outright insults are delivered in a faux-positive, passive-aggressive Disney style. For a weaker production and performer, the character would be a lazy stereotype, but it’s clear immediately that SpinQueen is doing something more interesting than just sending up SoCal millennials.
Tomei’s intense physical performance has to be applauded. She cycles full pelt on the stationary bike for half of the hour-long show and is dripping with sweat. If she ever was out of breath, I didn’t pick up on it. It’s a really impressive physical performance that must have taken a lot of work to achieve.
The script for SpinQueen is genuinely funny, with some really big laughs from the audience, which never undercut the later pathos. This is largely because SpinQueen relies on dramatic irony for much of its humour as Meg’s façade begins to visibly crack. What she says is nuts, but it’s also relatable. This also allows the production to deal with hot-button topics such as eating disorders, abuse and unhealthy coping mechanisms without ever seeming preachy.
Overall, SpinQueen is clever, affecting and a lot of fun, at least until it takes its very dark turn. A definite must-see.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
