Happy Meal @ Traverse Theatre

This may show my age, but during my teenage years, my search for belonging was not found online. Rather, I found it in the zine page of Teletext and the pen pal section of indie-rock magazine Select. Nonetheless, the central tenet of Tabby Lamb's Happy Meal – finding people with whom you can be yourself, when your immediate surroundings don't allow it – is familiar. 

Teenagers Alec and Bette meet playing online game Club Penguin at a time when dial-up modems are still a thing. They strike up a virtual friendship that is to span many years and Internet platforms. Both are trans, and whilst they are easily able to inhabit their true identities in the refuge of the online world, doing so IRL proves more difficult. Alec takes the leap of telling Bette he's trans in the early stages of their friendship; Bette struggles to do the same, so gaining the confidence to meet Alec in person proves fraught.

Happy Meal's set is a fun, cartoony ode to the Myspace era, though the kitsch colour-scheme is also reminiscent of the pre-internet game Dream Phone. Sam Crerar gives a great performance as Alec, the shy, sweet, emo-loving, closeted teenage boy who grows into himself. Allie Daniel is also impressive as Bette – sharp, spiky, conflicted, always on the edge of being able to take her relationship further, then backing away. 

A central element of the bond between the two characters comes through the sharing of music. This is reflected in the powerful use of music throughout the play, be it the glitchy beat of the penguin game, the emo bands Alec is obsessed with, or Patrick Wolf for the heart-tugging finale. 

Happy Meal is not an appeal for acceptance – that's not what trans people's lives are. It's a big-hearted, funny romcom, showing love between trans people with a sharp script and great onstage chemistry. Hopefully a time comes soon when this is not so rare.

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Happy Meal, Traverse Theatre (Traverse Two), until 28 Aug, various times, sold out, returns only