An unexpected, roller-coaster journey that brings two strangers to the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

Some of the most rewarding experiences in life come from chance encounters, where two complete strangers come into each other’s trajectory for no discernible reason other than pure dumb luck. As fate would have it, for the two protagonists of Prem John and Chandi Perera’s Frenemies, they receive far more than they bargain for, finding in each other soulmates who can’t keep away from each other, no matter how hard they try.

Directed by Susie Penrice Tyrie, Frenemies stars Chandi Perera and Amit Joshi as two individuals who come from completely different worlds; Chandi plays an amateur photographer struggling to pay rent while working as a barista, while Amit plays a big time banker with far too much time and money on his hands. When Amit pursues compensation for a broken piece of merchandise from the cafe Chandi works at, it sparks off a series of increasingly vicious correspondences as the two hold fast and stubborn to their respective egos, and continue to undermine, guilt trip and sabotage each other’s lives.

In the same style as A. R. Gurney’s play Love Letters, Frenemies never sees the two character speaking directly to each other, instead reading off a series of emails, text messages or even post-its left for each other, making the entire play epistolary in nature. This is initially fascinating as a gimmick, as we watch to see how long they can keep this up for (as it turns out – the entire play), but also serves as a double-edged sword. Due to the length of each correspondence, Frenemies ends up becoming a back-and-forth of long lines from each actor, but never directly interacting with each other, making it difficult at times to establish a more swift pacing and strong chemistry.

That being said, there is decent characterisation from both actors, who are at their best when the script allows them to reach their most unhinged state. From its simple cat and mouse beginnings, Frenemies also takes a few logical leaps that bring the play to extreme jumps, particularly when Amit’s character becomes smitten with Chandi’s, and the script allows him to lean into awkward, bordering-on-perverse language while remaining gleefully obtuse over the implications of his words, yet still oddly endearing. Meanwhile, Chandi swerves quickly between being at her wit’s end, to revealing her vengeful long con and wit later on in the play, her words always sharp, particularly the higher she rises and the further Amit falls.

While initially slightly stiff, under Susie Penrice Tyrie’s direction, both Chandi and Amit are also never static actors, and are constantly reacting to each other when they’re saying their lines, as if they are reading each correspondence in real time, at times mouth agape at the audacity of the other, at others chuckling to themselves, as if proud of having written something particularly devastating. There are times the script feels like it could be more taut, and could do with more editing, and perhaps might have benefitted from pitting the characters even more heavily against each other, rather than taking the roundabout route of turning them from enemies to lovers to enemies again.

In all, Frenemies is a bold and ambitious attempt at subverting the traditional romance plot with its own twisted version of soulmates. While its humour is hit and miss, there is a solid concept behind this play that would be very welcome to a restaging once its script receives more finessing and come out even stronger. Entertaining and unexpected, Frenemies is a refreshing new play that sees its team daring to do something that simply has fun, and doesn’t take itself too seriously such that we end up enjoying our time in the theatre too, and much like how Amit and Chani just can’t seem to let go of each other, we too would be glad to see more of them again.

Frenemies played from 6th to 15th December 2024 at 42 Waterloo Street.