The Virgins review – a tornado of gossip, pretence and pain as teens make Friday night sex night

2026-02-06 - 12:35

Soho theatre, London Desire collides with stomach-churning awkwardness in this play – which won the Women’s prize – about friends heading out for some physical contact I’m watching Miriam Battye’s The Virgins, which was nominated for the Women’s prize for playwriting in 2020, but it feels as if I’ve been thrown headfirst back into my teenage years. Centred on a group of teens who have decided that tonight is the night their sex lives finally get moving, it’s a tornado of growing pains and pretence at pleasure. It’s a Friday night, and best friends – and virgins – Chloe (Anushka Chakravarti) and Jess (Ella Bruccoleri) are getting ready to go “out out” for the first time. Joined by their gossip-hoarding friend Phoebe (played by a hysterical Molly Hewitt-Richards), who panics at even the mention of physical contact, they brush their teeth and straighten their hair in anticipation of Anya (Zoë Armer) from the year above arriving to teach them all they need to know. Even better, Chloe’s brother Joel (Ragevan Vasan), who practically shrinks when a girl enters, and his “really, really fit” friend Mel (Alec Boaden) are next door playing video games. With no parents at home and vodka mixers at the ready, the night is a recipe for success. Continue reading...