Exactly Like You

Lotte Rice channels the songs of Nina Simone in this occasionally fluent but bland performance poetry piece on the tumult of young life in the city. It’s ultimately a slightly corny story about struggling for work and waking up next to the wrong person in bed, despite Rice’s convincing delivery which exudes warmth and affection.

Abbie (Rice) is a bit of an everycharacter when it comes to this breed of poetry; she was a daydreamer at school, which often got her into trouble, and she tires of the phone answering jobs that have constituted her employment. She has a tricky—although not overly complicated—relationship with her mum, and was close to her nan before she passed away.

Rice is indeed a fine, watchable performer, and Kirsty Patrick Ward’s agile direction—and whom audiences may remember from Sabrina Mahfouz’s Chef—makes room for the lyrics to breathe and linger. But so often it relies on gimmicks and gags to fill in a weak story about a pretty ordinary life, which reaches for the extraordinary through Simone.

Exactly Like You’s reliance on classic songs from 'Sinner Man' to 'Feeling Good' is far, far too much of a stretch. The fierce politic and identity that underlined and powered Simone’s artistry is installed here more as a respite from the performance than a dramatic necessity. Abbie sings about particular heartaches and hangovers but it feels trite and ultimately flat in comparison to the material she draws on.