Lovingly made for people who find themselves residing on the outskirts of society, or wondering whether their guardian angels have lost interest, Bus Stop Goths showed at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) last night. It’s the tale of two struggling supernaturals, doing their best in the face of a mountain of red tape.

Bedecked in black feathers and counter-culture costume, Viv (Mimi Loughran) and Sid (Audrey Cook, who also directs) welcomed the audience to their celestial office - it might be gloomy, roach-infested and mainly lit by the glow of a CCTV screen, but when you’re spending millennia guarding over one forgotten corner of Middlesborough, that’s all you get…

Deliciously lo-fi, Bus Stop Goths is a labor of love that acknowledges the heartbreaking tightrope between ‘fitting in’ and finding your authentic self. Sid and Viv look down affectionately on the wayward teens loitering in the forgotten corners of ’borough. They might be operating under the thumb of bureaucracy, but the duo are confident that they can get their ‘goffs’ where they need to be. 

The play was performed in MAC’s Foyle Studio - the space was given an otherworldly echo, and an ethereal LCD Screen glow - and hails itself a ‘surreal, modern folktale’, which celebrates and liberates the alt-folk of Teesside. It’s the latest in a long line of MAC programming which centres less-loudly-heard voices.

Entering Viv and Sid’s cave-like office, the audience is instantly submerged in their anarchic, sweary, Queer and lightly slapstick world. The office hides a heavenly host of visual gags, and the two on-stage actors communicate freely with recorded voiceover, and physically interact with the grainy CCTV footage that surveys their domain. 

The whole production felt spontaneous and ambitious, and when Sid and Viv’s antics reach their haywire climax, it’s with an evident love of the alternative. On its journey around the country, Bus Stop Goths has undoubtedly found its spark with those seeing themselves represented on stage, perhaps for the first time. Sid and Viv’s world is a surreal, memorable and rebellious reminder of our shared need for community and care.

Bus Stop Goths showed at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) last night, Thursday 7 May