Spin Cycle review – romcom hits full speed as couple air their dirty laundry

Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh
There is crackling chemistry between Zofia Zerphy and Rhiannon Bell while their washing gets done but this play remains a puzzle

Names go missing like lost socks in this laundry-based, amnesia-laced romcom. With crackling chemistry but a holey structure, Zofia Zerphy’s Offie award-winning story of a queer meet-cute asks what you hold on to once a relationship is over, and whether it’s ever better to forget the mistakes you both made.

In the liminal space of a launderette, with their encounter framed by a washing machine’s 50-minute timer, Kitt (Zerphy) and Noel (Rhiannon Bell) talk over each other at full speed. “How will you use your 50 minutes?” Kitt asks. Their connection is easy and instant as they use them to bicker and flirt, discussing art, exes and the correct laundry tabs to use. Kitt is the rich, confident American, more privileged than Noel, the messy, Northern Irish, non-binary stranger. Except they don’t feel like strangers. With Bethan Rose’s direction making the most of the small stage, the pair lean close over the whirring machines, unpacking the ways they’ve been shaped by past relationships, and admitting they’ve both dated someone very like the other. In fact, they could swear they’ve met before.

At Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, until 31 August

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