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 | "interesting and challenging theatre piece"
by David Phipps-Davis for remotegoat on 25/08/08 |
Giant Olive, the producers of 'Adult Orgasm' (which runs at the Lion and Unicorn until 31st August) describe the piece as "a reflection of women's antagonistic relationship with men and the exploration of the female entity." Interestingly, this play, which is basically a set of five monologues and a prologue, is written by husband and wife Dario Fo and Franka Rame.
The play opens with three women using an ironing board to represent a penis, which they compare to the devil's tail. The central of the three was played by Imogen Harris and I was impressed by how relaxed she was as she addressed the audience (admittedly, there were only five of us). The three women go off and we then meet Sarah Balding, a 'Woman Alone' who is doing the ironing and chatting to an unseen neighbour. I only wish I could say the same of Balding as I did of Harris. She started her speech by stumbling over her words, at one point actually apologising for her mistake and another time tutting at herself. She appeared physically uncomfortable to the extent that nothing she was doing seemed natural and, unfortunately, I just did not believe her. As the monologue progressed she finally got into her stride and I grew to like the matter-of-fact way in which she spoke of being beaten and raped - most actors would weep and wail at this but she avoided the obvious which I respect a great deal. If only she could have been this sure from the outset. Hopefully this was an "off night."
Next comes Lowri Sallis-Lewis 'Waking Up' and miming all of her actions to great comic effect, especially when the character gets hysterical about losing her keys. She stumbled over one of two lines but generally she was very good and the monologue had a nice shape to it. Next came Rebecca Wall and Madeline French, two Australian actresses telling the 'Same Story', a monologue for two voices about how women are always mistreated by men, told through the medium of a comical fairy tale featuring a girl with a doll who says bad words, a big red cat, a dwarf with killer pee and a computer programmer with killer farts. Of the two, Wall was far better at the comedy, French seeming more at home with the tragic side of the tale. However, they compliment each other well and the ending, though quite anti-men, is also quite moving.
Next came the highlight of the evening, Kate Bancroft acting as prologue to the final monologue, the story of Medea. Bancroft has a great gift for engaging with her audience and delivers at a good and varied pace. The speech was also well staged (by director Andrea Hooymans). If only the excellent Bancroft could have been on for longer, but she made way for Imogen Harris' return as 'Medea.' Harris is a powerful actress with a commanding presence and engaging physicality, but I wish her voice was a little mellower in tone. However, this is a small point and she truly made us believe this most unlikely of tales. Unfortunately, the writing did not build to a successful climax to the piece, and it was also not aided by some distractingly uneven lighting.
These small niggles aside, this is an interesting and challenging piece of theatre and certainly deserving of a far bigger audience. http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/review_view.php?uid=2464
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