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theatretheatretheatretheatre Whats On Stage Review 'Beauty Is Prison-Time'

Beauty is Prison-Time
Venue: The Lion and Unicorn Theatre
Where: Inner London
Date Reviewed: 4 August 2011

Following a recent revamp the Lion and Unicorn Pub, home to the Giant Olive Theatre, is a rather nice little pub in Kentish town and the theatre itself is fairly spacious for its kind - well laid out with a good-size stage and suitably racked seating. Currently running a Gaea Theatre Festival to celebrate women playwrights, performers, directors and designers the first offering in the season is Beauty Is Prison-Time written and performed by Zoe Mavroudi.


Set in a Russian prison the play tells the story of Lyudmilla, a young inmate competing in the annual prison beauty pageant in the hopes of winning the coveted grand prize - parole. As she tells us her story she weaves seamlessly between past and present creating her costume and practising her poses in the now; while the then - her story of life in the Moscow underworld of trafficking, drugs and prostitution and her path to prison - comes slowly through.


Mavroudi is pitch perfect - instantly creating a rapport with her audience as she talks about her sewing prowess – “is prison record” and the oddities of the English language with its “ship” words – friendship, courtship – but none of them having anything to do with a boat. Her physicality is also impressive as she slides from inmate to judge; and naïve dancing girl in the “Club” to “Him” the club owner with a twist of her body and a slump of her shoulders.


Ciaran Cunningham’s lighting design is simple but effective – particularly the use of light and shadow on the pageant itself while Nikos Tsines and Mavroudi’s sound design certainly place you very firmly in a Russian world. Ika Avaliani’s set is suitably stark and allows Mavroudi the space and equipment she needs to create a whole world with only herself on stage. A particularly nice touch was the coat rail and coats as dancing partners.


An enjoyable piece with a stand-out performance from Mavroudi, this is certainly a wonderful celebration of women in theatre and while the view of Lyudmilla presented may be a little too rosy to give us a really honest understanding of her, as she would say “out” in the real world, it is her story after all and Mavroudi is sincere in the telling.



By Laura Norman


Read review on whatsonstage.com


 

 


 
 

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