Post by marion on May 29, 2024 20:12:51 GMT
I was in two minds about this, but the reviews were so good that I decided to give it a go. The story was inspired by the 1920s murderess Ruth Snyder who killed her husband and was executed. A reporter due to attend the execution smuggled in a camera and took some shots of her in the electric chair which were published (tasteful!). This is not the exact story but concerns a young woman called Helen who marries her dull, boring boss because she feels that is expected of her. He repulses her physically and she seemed almost to be going mad to me, or a least showed some bipolar/ADHD tendencies. One night, she is out with a girlfriend and meets a hunk in the bar (not totally dissimilar to Aidan Turner I thought). They get wildly drunk, go back to his place and have rampant sex!!! At this point the whole theatre is plunged into total darkness for three minutes so you can hear but not see. She thinks this could be it, he immediately starts to back away and her boring life resumes. We then flip to her murder trial, imprisonment and execution.
I didn’t recognise the cast, but the protagonist’s mother was played by yer actual Jolene from The Archers!!! Well sexy siren she was not, 😂, more old crone. The central role is played by Rosie Sheehy and she gives an absolutely blistering performance, quite mesmerising in fact. The whole thing is extremely well performed but it is very, very stylised at times. The stage is cut down to about 1/3 of its normal space and in a yellow funnel shape. Some of it was very close to being like an experimental show, I thought, and it is very hard to categorise.
It got a huge reception from our audience. Personally, I was expecting to be a bit more moved! I mean it was so well done but I stayed slightly detached. I was also surprised there wasn’t a bit more of a feminist message, as in playing up how women had to put up with so much crap! But it was certainly unusual and well worth seeing, and surprisingly funny in places.
I didn’t recognise the cast, but the protagonist’s mother was played by yer actual Jolene from The Archers!!! Well sexy siren she was not, 😂, more old crone. The central role is played by Rosie Sheehy and she gives an absolutely blistering performance, quite mesmerising in fact. The whole thing is extremely well performed but it is very, very stylised at times. The stage is cut down to about 1/3 of its normal space and in a yellow funnel shape. Some of it was very close to being like an experimental show, I thought, and it is very hard to categorise.
It got a huge reception from our audience. Personally, I was expecting to be a bit more moved! I mean it was so well done but I stayed slightly detached. I was also surprised there wasn’t a bit more of a feminist message, as in playing up how women had to put up with so much crap! But it was certainly unusual and well worth seeing, and surprisingly funny in places.
Anymore to come?
