Spin Cycle begins when Noel and Kitt enter The Launderette: they lock eyes in the neon glow, a queer feeling washing over them. They’re strangers to each other, but were they something more before this? Something about the way Kitt’s hand feels in Noel’s is too familiar.
Memory is a tricky thing- it can make us forget things it deems painful. But what happens when we come face-to-face with those memories? How hard will your mind work to keep you in the dark?
Zofia Zerphy got the inspiration for Spin Cycle coming home one night. She saw an advert where someone was sitting on top of a vintage washing machine, and it made her think of The Launderette – how strange a place it is! The rhythmic sound of machines whirring in the background, the rows of white machines, and neon lights glowing above; to Zofia, The Launderette appears very much as a liminal space. It is a transitional space, somewhere stuck between two stages, where people go in with dirty clothes and come out with clean ones. The Launderette itself is a thing of the past, made redundant by personal washing machines, and yet it still exists, not quite extinct, but not of this world either. And isn’t The Launderette a strange place to sit for an hour? Anyone could meet in The Launderette. After all, if there is one universal truth of life, it’s that there will always be laundry to be done. It seemed to her the perfect setting for an absurd play.
As a queer artist, Zofia wants to put queerness centre stage in her work, but the thing about absurdism is that it relies on the illogical, on the subversion of “normal”, but queerness exists outside of this world’s “normal”. Queerness abstracts the traditional, because queer experiences are marked by deviations from heteronormative expectations. Finding a theatrical world where these two things meet is why Zofia began writing Spin Cycle. How does one create a wildly unreasonable scenario when queerness does not play by the rules of what is “reasonable”? How can queer absurdism break binary barriers? That is what Zofia hopes to discover with this play.
Rhiannon Bell, who plays Noel, says, “I was first introduced to Spin Cycle from an early draft and was instantly captured by the relationship between Kitt and Noel. As an actor and a queer artist, I am attracted to stories that represent people like me, but avoid tropes like “the coming out story” or a character’s inner battle with their own queerness. Spin Cycle plays with the abstract whilst also telling the story of real characters and their relationships- a play that everyone can relate to, whilst being solidly rooted in queerness.”
Director Bethan Rose says, “As a first-time director, working on a two-hander with two vibrant queer personalities is such a joy. I find that there is a complicit sense of voyeurism in watching this play – you feel like a fly on the wall of The Launderette, keen to find out more about Noel and Kitt. I think the problems that echo through so many relationships will be familiar to audiences, making this absurdist piece resonate with them.”
Spin Cycle has been developed with Omnibus Theatre, The Oxford Playhouse, and Underbelly Boulevard. Jodie Adams (Underbelly Senior Programmer) says, “Spin Cycle is a fresh and clever take on a relationship story, and a beautifully written examination of a queer meet-cute with a twist. Up-and-coming writer Zofia Zerphy deconstructs two complex individuals and their connection to each other in a relatable look at how we behave with those closest to us and the stories we tell ourselves along the way.“
Spin Cycle will be on at the Etcetera Theatre, London NW1, 16 August 2025 at 9pm and 23 August at 3pm.
You can also see it at The SE Fest in collaboration with the Bridge House Theatre and Jack Studio Theatre, September 12th at 19:30 and 13th at 15:00 and 19:30. Tickets available online at Berserk Theatre.
