THE GUARDIAN
A gasp-inducing love-triangle mystery - the intricately tangled lives of three women, and their explosive secret, are revealed in this complicated picture of queer love across the decades

The wonder of Isley Lynn’s gorgeous play about the love between three women is in its connections. In a time-hopping narrative spanning 28 years, we meet Bel, Annie and Flo at two different points during their changing intimate relationship, with different actors playing the older and younger versions of each character. The past and present bleed together fluidly and beautifully as The Swell expands into a complicated drawing of modern queer love across the decades.

In the earlier story Bel and Annie are engaged after a whirlwind romance but when Annie’s childhood friend Flo – a volcano of fun, trouble and life – comes to visit, the ease of their new bond is uprooted. In the later thread, Flo and Bel live in an isolated home, away from everything and everyone else. But how did they get there? From the start we’re eager to know, but Lynn keeps the mystery of these adjoining stories devilishly held back, until suddenly the secrets of The Swell explode.

In a poetic production directed by Hannah Hauer-King, the play – shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2020 – becomes dreamlike. Ghostly live music composed by Nicola T Chang links scenes, and the actors watch their counterparts’ sections from the sidelines. The shadows of yesterday linger, tentatively, within the frames of the Orange Tree’s circular stage. Flo and Bel’s first nervous step into romance plays out silently behind conversations of the future. The memory of it stains like a bruise.

When a big reveal finally comes, it sends gasps through the audience. Until then, it is Lynn’s intricate stitching of three full, complex women that steer this epic. The six-strong cast all fit perfectly into the skins of their roles and work effortlessly as one ensemble. But, as the mature Bel, Sophie Ward stands out. Full of angst and years of difficulty, her performance is entirely lifelike. What a joy it is to see this female-led production flourish. Built with tangled emotions, subtlety and surprise, it is quite the feat.

- Anya Ryan

EVENING STANDARD
A truly bold and unexpected piece of work - this is a meditation on love and betrayal packed into a tight 90 minutes that’ll leave you wanting more

Romance and tenderness collide with something far more sinister in multi-award nominated playwright Isley Lynn’s multigenerational tale of queer love and deception. When chaotic, free-spirited old friend Flo (Jessica Clark) turns up and disrupts the soon-to-be-marital bliss of young couple Annie (Saroja-Lily Ratnavel) and Bel (Ruby Crepin-Glyne), her arrival has the somewhat disastrous effect of tugging a loose thread on a woollen jumper: everything quickly begins to unravel.

The Orange Tree’s in-the-round stage setup has been fashioned here into a raised, marble-like platform used to good effect – characters have boxing-ring style face-offs or frolic after one another flirtatiously. The six-strong cast remain in the auditorium throughout; if not playing a scene, they’re at the sidelines providing a tantalising vocal score (sound design by the prolific Nicola T. Chang) characterised by rich, haunting harmonies that, well, swell, conjuring the gently acknowledged ocean-side location of the play’s world.

The score is not just melodic though. A sigh or gasp on stage is sometimes echoed by the other hidden voices, creating an unsettling surround-sound effect. You’ll find yourself glancing over your shoulder to see where it came from, and wondering how it sounded like it was right in your ear.

As the dynamic between Flo, Annie and Bel grows increasingly messy, another love story is unfurling: an older generation romance (played touchingly by Shuna Snow and Sophie Ward) that is not all it seems. Isley Lynn’s characters are nuanced and beautifully drawn, and the play’s dialogue is gorgeously natural and flowing.

Where the playwright really excels though, is in bold and unexpected choices. The Swell takes its audience on some hugely gripping twists and turns. Without them, this still would’ve been a good play – but with them, it becomes something altogether more audacious.

Hannah Hauer-King’s smart direction playfully illuminates the text’s narrative shifts that leave you feeling truly – but appropriately – discombobulated. Within that though, there’s attention given to quiet, tender moments too. A yoga lesson given in earnest dissolving into doe-eyed flirtation; someone gently helping their partner navigate their way out of a panic attack; someone else helping a confused partner put their eyeglasses on. These moments are moving portraits of not only queer love, but all love.

Hauer-King has clearly had fun with a cast that is uniformly very good. Stand-out performances come from Ratnavel and Snow – they do brilliant stuff with characters that are simultaneously deeply sympathetic but creep right under your skin.

This is a dark and moving meditation on love and betrayal packed into a tight 90 minutes that’ll leave you wanting more. A brain-teaser at times, but worth waiting for the pay-off. Lynn’s writing is genuinely exciting – this feels like the queer-but-not-about-being-queer play that the new writing scene needs right now.

- Farah Najib

THE STAGE
Super-smart and beautifully tender three-hander by Isley Lynn

Isley Lynns twisty-turny and tender new play, a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and now elegantly staged by Hannah Hauer-King, reels us in under one assumption and chucks us out dazed and thrilled about where we ended up.

Three lesbians, a love triangle, a tangled history: we meet Bel, Flo and Annie as 50-somethings, then spool back to where the tangle of their histories began as 20-somethings, the older counterparts looking on and the two generations taking it in turns to pick up the narrative.

There’s tightly wound Annie, serious and ambitious, played brilliantly in her younger incarnation by Saroja-Lily Ratnavel, probably the best performance here with her completely believable facial expressions, stiff gestures and naturalistic delivery. She’s engaged to recently-out Bel (Ruby Crepin-Glyne), gentle and anxious. Annie’s oldest friend – the kind of annoying best friend that you actually sort of hate – is freewheeling Flo, all spike and high energy as played by Jessica Clark, channelling a CBeebies presenter on MDMA. Viss Elliot Safavi, Shuna Snow and Sophie Ward play their older selves, carefully not mimicking the young actors in their time-tunnelled performances.

Hauer-King pulls everything together tightly on Amy Jane Cook’s raised platform set, flicking us between locations (beach, pub, garden) and periods with swift transitions set to really beautiful Imogen Heap-esque choral creations by Nicola T Chang. What Hauer-King really nails is the small moments when Bel and Flo start to fall in love: eyes locking hungrily, hands glancing off each other, electricity almost crackling as they touch.

Lynn pulls us into these three lives deftly, switching between time periods and presenting a rather gorgeous narrative of queer female experiences, with enough romance and drama to keep things interesting. It’s swoony and soapy, which would be great on its own. Oh, but that’s not enough for tricksy Lynn. What really makes the play so good is something that should only be hinted at in a review, which brings everything together so suddenly and smartly and bamboozlingly.

When it feels like Lynn has slightly over-contrived the characters and their interests – surfing, singing – actually, these details prove to be important. Even the scenes that seem surplus, and that drag things back when they could be pulling things along, demand reassessment by the end.

But it’s not just a play that stands or falls on its plot twists. Instead, it’s the combination of super-smart structure and tender details – the macro and micro together – that underlines just how skilled a writer Lynn is.

- Tim Bano

DIVA MAGAZINE
Essential queer viewing
- Eleanor Noyce

THE ARTS DESK
Emotionally true and profoundly theatrical … the best piece of new writing in London.
- Aleks Sierz

FAIRY POWERED PRODUCTIONS
Absolutely brilliant … This play, phenomenally written by Isley Lynn, is a masterpiece.
- Bobbi Fenton

LOU REVIEWS
The script constantly intrigues and surprises, with twists and turns which are handled with such skill we hardly sense the pieces being fit together. This is superior female-led stagecraft.
- Louise Penn

THESPYINTHESTALLS.COM
Lynn’s writing is deceptively artful and astute, crafty yet judiciously crafted. She has that rare gift of duping us into thinking we are on safe ground, but then abruptly pulling that ground away from under our feet … The play is a fiendishly clever piece of writing, served brilliantly by a formidable company of actresses.
- Jonathan Evans

LOST IN THEATRELAND
The star of the show, however, without a doubt, is Lynn, whose understanding of people is unparalleled, and whose writing is funny, moving and gutting all by degrees. This is a name that will surely be at the forefront of new British theatre for many years; the only thing I can do is urge you to see this play. There are few more powerful around.
- Mailí Ní Ghormáin

MARK ASPEN
A gripping, sophisticated, thriller-ish tale about betrayal, self-sacrifice, the pros and cons of the tangled webs we weave and, perhaps arguably, the ultimate triumph of love … this is grown up drama. Human beings are not straightforward and no-one is absolutely right or wrong. The whole thing is peppered with gentle humour too … This small but mighty piece is a blast of pure theatrical pleasure at ninety minutes. It is expertly directed by Hannah Hauer-King and as such it entertains, provokes thought, raises spirits, and raises a laugh. Isley Lynn is evidently a playwright to watch and The Swell is well worth seeing.
- Mark Aspen

THE REVIEWS HUB
Gripping and emotionally telling, beautifully depicted by a strong cast.
- Chris Lilly

THE ARTISCAPE
This sharp and bold play will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.
- Fiona Doyle

ALL THAT DAZZLES
The Swell is hauntingly beautiful, as well as heart-breaking. Its 90 minute journey through love, betrayal, attachment and care. A formidable all female cast bring Isley Lynn’s touching and gripping story to life with wonderful performances and an enchanting vocal score, creating a wonderful exploration of the human condition of love.
- Rosie Holmes

THEATRE VIBE
This play is so well written … a fine analysis of the human condition.
- Lizzie Loveridge

ESSENTIAL SURREY
Lynn has constructed an intriguing and persuasive play that possesses broad appeal, its unexpected late twist bringing a poignant and pungent emphasis that is profoundly moving. 
- Amanda Hodges

FRINGE REVIEW
Rarely has a new play thrilled quite so exquisitely, so sadly … An absorbing play, as breathtaking as one of its surfing epiphanies. The Swell will break over your head. Let it. You’ll come up for air changed.
A small masterpiece.
- Simon Jenner

“The Swell is funny, romantic, and tender, with a perfectly engineered plot: I couldn’t put it down. Isley Lynn has been building a reputation as one of the most exciting playwrights around: The Swell is set to be her best yet.”
- Orange Tree Theatre Artistic Director Tom Littler

“When Isley and I developed this play with Hightide back in 2017, we couldn’t have hoped for a better home than the Orange Tree. The in-the-round intimacy of the space is perfect for a play that manages to be both laugh-out-loud funny, and filled with tragedy and loss. And though it is a play that puts six queer female characters centre stage, it really is a play for everyone. The questions it asks about relationships, fidelity and trust, will resonate for anyone who has been in love.”
- Director of The Swell and co-founder of Damsel Productions Hannah Hauer-King

“The Swell was one of only 40 plays shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Playwriting, out of a total 1162 entries. It was a sure-fire entry on the shortlist on the basis of its lyrical tenderness perfectly counterpointing its epic sweep. We don’t read many plays that can execute that combination so exquisitely. Added to that, Isley’s dialogue is perfectly pitched and compelling and her characters are some of the most interesting and plausible that I’ve ever come across in a play. I have no doubt that audiences will delight in this play just as much as our reading panel did. Isley Lynn is one of our finest writers for the stage and we (the Women’s Prize for Playwriting) are thrilled to be co-producing The Swell.”
- Co-founder of Women’s Prize for Playwriting Ellie Keele

The Swell in rehearsals

Photos by Ali Wright

Akimbo Theatre Co, Old Fitz Theatre, Sydney, 2024

Isley Lynn’s breath-taking play about three-woman in a love triangle that endures for 28 years is an absolute must see. This is a complex romance, an intrigue told across two distinct and distant time frames — but there is a mystery hidden within the dividing expanse.
- Rita Bratovich, Star Observer

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Written by Isley Lynn, The Swell - which borrows plot beats from romances and thrillers - takes its time divulging its secrets. With a sleek 90-minute runtime shifting between past and present, the audience is on a mission to piece together long lives, plot twists, and shifting loyalties. The double-cast actors rarely leave the stage, always watching their other selves. This play haunts itself. … It's rare to see a play solely about the lives, loves and experiences of queer women. This makes The Swell an immediate standout.
- Cassie Tongue

TIME OUT SYDNEY
Lynn’s script compassionately paints complex and flawed female characters across two different stages of life. These characters express layered experiences of love, joy, betrayal, pain, anxiety, embarrassment, and gracious acceptance – and this cast of actors give every moment its justice. … It’s wonderful to see the Old Fitz Theatre bring stories like this to Australia, and The Swell is a great way to get into the Sydney Mardi Gras spirit. For the twist alone, this show is definitely worth your time!
- Vaanie Krishnan

LIMELIGHT
Featuring one of the best ‘wait … what?!’ plot twists I’ve encountered in a theatre in recent memory, UK writer Isley Lynn’s The Swell imparts a neck-snapping spin to its decades-spanning story of a queer love triangle.
- Jason Blake

SUZY GOES SEE
An electrifying plot twist in Isley Lynn’s The Swell brings us to the edges of our seats
- Suzy Wrong

CITY HUB
This intriguing one-act play by award-winning US/UK playwright, Isley Lynn, is one to see with a friend or two because you will want to talk about it afterwards.
- Rita Bratovich

AUSTRALIAN STAGE
Emotionally enlarged with morally rousing tragic optimism, The Swell is a good tale told quietly before we are catapulted to its crest, picked up by a wave of unexpected reveals.
- Richard Cotter