Page On Stage:

As everyone keeps reminding me ‘Christmas is a little different this year’, which seems to be the understatement of the century. No big family get togethers, no bustling Christmas markets, no work parties, and of course no live pantomimes or festive shows. Personally, one of my favourite yuletide traditions each year is picking which of the dozens of retellings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol I plan to watch. Imagine my delight then when I was asked to review a new A Christmas Carol adjacent theatrical production, Alexander Knott’s play December, which has been created for audiences at home during these unprecedented times.

Rather than following the story of the miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge, in December we are instead invited into the world of his lowly clerk, Bob Cratchit, and taken on a dark journey through the icy and perilous streets of London. This London is a darker and harsher one than that which Scrooge experiences, with thugs on each corner waiting to pounce and poverty and hunger are every-day realities. Likewise, this portrayal of Cratchit is darker too – a man who is suffering and flawed. We see deeper, past the smiling, upbeat husband and father to the desperate, exhausted man having to fight tooth and nail every day just to survive and support his loved ones. The weight of his responsibility and the hardships of a harsh city have ground him down. It’s a much grittier and more honest portrayal of the inner mind of someone living hand to mouth and working to the bone each day.

Like Scrooge, Cratchit is visited by otherworldly spirits with a message and warning for him on this bitterly cold Christmas Eve. The downtrodden clerk, unsure if he can carry on living in such a hard world, is shown visions of the suffering of the future poor. It’s a Wonderful Life this is not - the spectres provide Cratchit a bleak glimpse at the decades to come with the war, sickness, and inequality they will continue to bring. It’s pretty grim. If you’re looking for something cheerful to brighten your festive season then this probably isn’t the play for you. But it’s not all doom and gloom, there’s a bittersweet hope to the piece, a kind of fierce encouragement that we must soldier on and not give up. We should lament the hardships wrought on the common people by the oppressive super rich, but we must not be broken by them.

We are given a chance to see Cratchit’s real resentment for his greedy employer, his words echoing through the ages and reflecting a growing resentment being felt today towards the callous wealthy elite hoarding more money than they could ever need whilst so many live in poverty. With the gap between the poor and rich wider than it’s been in recent history Cratchit’s frustrations resonate with audiences of today. The anger is infectious, feeling at times like a call to arms, a rallying cry that we must put a stop to this injustice.

The script, which is almost solid monologue for the first half of the play, is very Dickensian in tone, mood and style. Details from the book are woven naturally throughout, peppered in sparsely enough that it’s familiar whilst feeling like a very different story all its own.

The Dickensian dialogue is brought to life with all the more vibrancy by Ryan Hutton who plays Bob Cratchit. Acting to a camera is very different to acting for a live audience, but Hutton pulls it off effortlessly and his infectious theatrical energy draws you into the performance until you almost forget you’re in front of a screen and not in an auditorium. In December Cratchit is endearing and sympathetic, with much more depth of character than he’s afforded in the classic Dickensian tale. Hutton brings him to life in a way which is endlessly watchable. He also plays a handful of other minor characters within his monologues, which are very distinctive and well characterised, the changes to his speech and physicality bringing these additional players to life seamlessly. Praise, too, should be given to Freya Sharp who plays the spirits, as well as a collection of other characters Cratchit encounters. She tackles this selection of roles with great range, demonstrating an ability to delight, amuse, frighten, fluster, or tug at the heartstrings of the audience as required.

A lot of thought has clearly gone into the design of December as a theatrical piece for camera. December benefits from plenty of thoughtful and out of the box camera direction from Charles Flint. Filmed in and around Old Red Lion theatre, the action is not merely confined to the auditorium but spills out onto the street and even, at one point, into the pub. December still feels like a theatrical piece, but without the conventions dictated by a live audience this line becomes a little blurry.

My only criticism of December, is that a lot of time is dedicated to introducing Bob Cratchit and the world in which he inhabits, plunging deep into the dark well of his soul, which leaves little time for spirits to visit. As a result, the visions Cratchit is shown feel somewhat rushed through and the conclusion of the play seems tacked onto the end and just narrowly fails to quite stick the landing.

Nevertheless, December is a winter treat I highly recommend to anyone who has missed good theatre this season. Every element has been crafted with care and it’s a delight to see something of such a high quality being produced in these difficult times. A reflective, pensive and thoughtful piece, December may have changed the way I think about A Christmas Carol forever.

As well as being a fantastic production, December is raising money for a good cause, with all profits going to Hackney Winter Night Shelter, a charity which strives to put an end to rough sleeping during the coldest time of year. So, don’t be a Scrooge, follow the link below, buy your ticket for one of the best digital shows of the year, and help make life better for someone in need in the process!

DECEMBER
Written and Directed by: Alexander Knott
Directed for Camera by: Charles Flint
Company: Bag of Beard
Filmed at: Old Red Lion Theatre
Available online from 20th December – 5th January
Box Office: https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/december1.html
@BagofBeard

Tennessee Williams is arguably one of the greatest playwrights in the last century, and certainly one of the most influential. His style is unmistakable, his stories of domestic struggles set in the American South told with a stark honesty and a lyrical turn of phrase are a successful formula for some of the best plays of the past hundred years. Classic tales like A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof are iconic, and Tennessee Williams’ penchant for giving stories to previously unheard voices with gritty realism makes him one of the founding fathers of modern theatre.

The Glass Imaginary is a completely improvised full length play in the style of Tennessee Williams. The company began by asking the audience to name an object that their grandparent owned as a prompt, the evening I was watching the object picked was a gramophone, and from there an incredible tale of doubt, financial hardship, and unrequited love was woven.

This show could not have worked even nearly as well without the entire cast having an incredibly insightful understanding of the character relations, physicality, and speech patterns found traditionally in Tennessee Williams’ work. The improv is as smooth and silky as the rich Southern drawls it’s performed with. It’s bold, it’s fearless, and it’s unwavering.

The relationships between the characters are deep, meaningful, and created seamlessly with multi-layered complexity. The way these actors keep up with the many plots, places and characters is astounding, referencing earlier events and even earlier dialogue after significant time has passed. They set one another up and work collaboratively as a company without appearing obvious or forced, it’s a marvel to witness.

Like any Tennessee Williams play The Glass Imaginary is an emotional rollercoaster representing the real highs and lows of domestic drama, sometimes hurtling along with quick, witty humour, and at other times the plot twisting unexpectedly and travelling through moments of deep, heartfelt connection which stirs an ache in the very depths of the human soul. It’s enough to remind anyone of why the work of Tennessee Williams is so darned irresistible.

Each of the classic Tennessee Williams character types are present, they at least were in the show I saw – the confident everyman, the closeted homosexual, the naïve girl destined to fall from grace, the good Christian, the devoted but yearning wife/mother, and the strong smart-talking woman.

The simple adjustment of the positioning of furniture and a variation in placement of cushions and blankets effectively transports the audience to different settings. The staging is interesting and yet simple, using no set or props other than a sofa, a desk, two chairs, a coffee table, a coat rack and two bibles to perfectly set each scene regardless of location.

The two act play is faultlessly paced, a remarkable feat in and of itself. There are barely any false starts, stutters, or overlaps, and those that could be found are few, far between and, most importantly, instantly recovered from.

The Glass Imaginary perfectly captures the formulaic concoction which makes Tennessee Williams’ work so distinctive and so universally well loved. The actors all take it in turns to set the next scene and the rest of the company follow up by building wonderfully deep, multi-dimensional characters with complex interweaving stories and a coherent overarching narrative. Plots twists which can turn on a dime decide the fates of these sympathetic new born characters, who roll out life lessons in profound sounding quips and present a play which is amusing, entertaining, but also sad, engaging and raw.

I never knew that improv could be this genuinely compelling.


THE GLASS IMAGINARY: An Improvised Play
The Improvised Play Company
The Drayton Arms Theatre 4th - 8th February 2020
@Glass_Imaginary
Produced by Presence Theatre Collective

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Importance of Being Earnest
Company: Pan Productions
Directed by: Aylin Bozok
Produced by: Zeynep Dlkiran




Part of what makes The Importance of Being Earnest an absolute classic play is its timelessness. The story follows two friends, Ernest and Algernon, who are both, in some way, leading double lives. When those double lives entangle and their secrets threaten to destroy any chance of happiness they have with the women of their dreams, Gwendoline and Cecily, the pressure is on for these two bachelors to decide exactly who they intend to be.

The Importance is a story about love, yes, but also about identity, both the identity of the self and the identities imposed upon us by others. It’s about the tight-rope line we all walk between where we’ve come from and who we are. How fitting, then, that this particular production of Oscar Wilde’s well loved farce is produced by a cast and crew of creatives made up entirely by immigrants. French, Canadian, Finnish, Turkish, and Greek are just a handful of the nationalities of those involved. It’s a fantastic and fresh angle for, arguably, the most popular play of Wilde’s – after all, we mustn’t forget that the controversial Irish playwright was an immigrant himself. The unique styles brought to the table by this company have breathed fresh life into a play which has been put on so many times it’s a wonder there’s anything new to bring to it.

This production of The Importance of Being Earnest is more like an absinthe fuelled fever dream. It’s a highly stylised and non-naturalistic take with a distinctly offbeat tone and an alluring black and white colour palette. Whether you like what Pan Productions (the theatrical company behind the show) has done with the play or not, it’s impossible to argue against the fact that aesthetically it’s very pleasing. Imagine, if you will, a kind of gothic bohemia - black leather, a maid in dark green velvet, and a Cecily who’s sporting an outfit not dissimilar to what Winona Ryder is wearing in Beetlejuice.

If you go into this production of The Importance of Being Earnest expecting a quaint traditionally British comedy performed by delicate doe-eyed ladies and charmingly befuddled highly starched gentlemen then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. This is a far cry from Rupert Everett and Colin Firth leaning on ornate banisters whilst chewing the scenery and is more akin to a viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And you know what? It works. It’s a delightful take with an identity all its own, which seems fitting considering the themes of the play. There is a strong and distinct directorial vision throughout, choreographed with a braveness and boldness which, for the vast majority of the play, really pays off.

The cast is incredibly strong, and considering that English is not the first language of many of the cast they have no problem getting their teeth around Wilde’s wordy dialogue with the impeccable timing of delivery which the success of this show depends upon. Pinar Öğün and Glykeria Dimou, who play Gwendoline and Cecily respectively, are a particular delight, the strength of their characters leaving the audience in no doubt as to who is really running the show. Nea Cornér plays Lane and Merriman, two servants in the original text, but transformed in this production into a much more significant role of maid come storyteller come creator. She often physically moves characters into place and even enacts their internal feelings whilst they disguise their true emotions for propriety’s sake. There’s something wonderfully unnerving about her, she carries much of the quirk of this production and is used as an all purpose tool for a lot of the more stylistic directorial decisions.

There are times where style does seem to overshadow purpose in this production, a few of the false starts and extra flavour repeated several times too often, and whilst I adored all of the little asides and oddities I’d be inclined to say that sometimes less is more and using the same devices more than once feels stressed at best and lazy at worst.

That said, Pan Productions' The Importance of Being Earnest is a triumph of subversive and stylish defiance with a flare and poignant absurdity which Oscar himself would no doubt have adored.


The Importance of Being Earnest ~ [Tower Theatre] ~ Review

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

It’s impossible to ignore anymore, the continuous subterranean rumble of fear, a fear we’ve buried deep because none of us want to spare more than a passing thought on the ever looming catastrophe that is climate change. We’re scared, we feel helpless, and it already feels too late to change – the end of the world is nigh. It’s this very real sensation of living on the edge of disaster which THIS PLAY WILL SOLVE CLIMATE CHANGE centres around. Not only educational, but also entertaining and relatable, it may not be able to achieve exactly what it says on the tin, but you know what? It could certainly help.

THIS PLAY WILL SOLVE CLIMATE CHANGE focuses on the individual stories of four people and their relationship with climate change. The undiluted humanity of this piece is what drives it, what creates such a compelling watch, and what makes it work so well. The first character is a mother whose grown-up daughter doesn’t want to have children because she fears for the future of the planet that child would grow up on. It explores the feelings of guilt older generations experience and the realisation of quite how serious the situation is, the double edged sword of relief and terror that it probably won’t affect them personally, but that by the time their grandchildren are adults there could be no world left to make a life on. Another of the characters is a mother of two young daughters contemplating moving to the hills of Romania and becoming self-sufficient so that at least her family will survive when society’s resources run out. This is a woman who knows what’s happening and doesn’t see the possibility of a bright future for her children, instead she sees a future where capitalism and corporate greed has triumphed over common sense and self preservation, a world in which her daughters must know how to grow food, how to live off grid, and how to fight to protect themselves and their resources. Then there’s the third story, a woman who has just gotten a new job editing an environmental magazine and is learning quite how much trouble the planet is in for the first time. She reminisces about life before that knowledge, when going on holiday didn’t mean thinking about the environmental impact of an international flight, and she echoes the struggle we all feel wanting to do our bit but also wanting to still enjoy the luxuries we’re accustomed to in modern society. The final story is that of a young woman who may or may not be pregnant and isn’t sure how she feels about it, her feelings become even more complicated when she learns that the carbon footprint of raising a baby is astronomically high and she questions whether having a baby is ethically responsible during times of climate change crisis. The play also includes a number of physical theatre elements and facts and figures presented in the form of contestants playing a quiz show.

Now I’m pretty tuned in to current events and I keep a close eye on environmental news and climate change, there were still new things I took away from THIS PLAY WILL SOLVE CLIMATE CHANGE and I learned things I hadn’t known before – quite shocking things, actually. So as far as educational theatre goes this show does its job perfectly, and as well as that it’s incredibly entertaining. The play is peppered with teeth-gritting humour, a little sugar to help the medicine go down, and although its overall tone is urgent, it’s still very hopeful. It points the finger of blame where it’s deserved, it encourages people to think and to be better, and more than anything (and this is something I particularly appreciated) it says “we know how this feels, we know you’re trying, we know you’re scared, we are too, but we’re in this together and we can do this”. A quick shout-out to Chuma Emembolu for the lighting design of this show, which was noticeably excellent and effectively hit the mark and mood of each scene every time.

There were some elements of this show which didn’t work so well and seemed to distract from the play as filler for filler’s sake – one particular scene in which the cast throw around plastic bags seemed a little empty and went on for much too long. The show could also benefit from being more interactive as in the parts where it is it works really well, but this is underutilised. Another impactful element of the play comes in the form of two of the cast members, Freya and Mina Caines, two school children whose very presence is a constant reminder of our duty to preserve the future of our planet, and whose brave performances and clear passion for the topic are truly inspiring.

This Play Will Solve Climate Change is exactly what people need to see at the moment and if I had my way I’d have it performed in every town in the country. This is a great example of one of those plays which is doing good, important work and I look forward to seeing it grow, thrive, and inspire even more theatre just like it.


This Play Will Solve Climate Change ~ [The White Bear Theatre] ~ Review
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Upon reading the press release for Fine and Dandy at The King’s Head Theatre I have to admit I was excited – there are times as a reviewer where you find yourself reading about a show which ticks a lot of your personal interest boxes and Fine and Dandy was one of them. An unusual protagonist, an epic journey spanning continents, a cast of weird and wonderful characters, musical numbers, music hall, queer themes, and all set during the turn of the century? Yes please!

Fine and Dandy is the story of Ernest Faigele Fine, not quite a man and not quite a woman, but certainly quite a character! Ernest’s life is turned upside down when their family falls upon hard times and decides to immigrate. This is the beginning of a life changing journey for Ernest, who finds a home amongst the show folk of the British music halls and a particularly close bond with the enigmatic cabaret singer, Dandy. But Ernest and Dandy are not without enemies, there are con artists and villains around every corner awaiting to thwart all of the naive Ernest’s best laid plans.

There are some really good ideas at the core of Fine and Dandy, its overall tone is quirky and interesting, its music hall style lending the tall tale a certain kind of charm. But, despite this, the show needs a lot of work. Almost everything about it feels messy and under rehearsed, every member of the cast fluffed lines on more than one occasion, people were talking over one another and repeating lines that had already been said, diction was unclear, entrances and exits were chaotic, and the script itself was clumsy and confused. It felt a little like a high school pantomime trying to engage with Brechtian theatre practices and totally missing the mark.

Credit where credit is due, the cast were having a lot of fun and putting a great deal of effort into their performances, and the show was not without its merits. The costumes were fantastic, the overall aesthetic fascinating. Sarah Warren’s performance was particularly strong, displaying great physicality, a lovely singing voice, and some impressive accents. Praise too for Jo Sutherland whose role as Albert Shufflebottom was very amusing and wonderfully acted.

Let it not be said that there aren’t nuggets of genuinely entertaining moments in Fine and Dandy, but it certainly needs a re-working. The script itself is oddly paced, there’s a ‘climactic’ moment in which Ernest is reunited with their father, whilst all the main characters they’ve met along the way end up in the same scene, and this somehow feels tacked onto the end and almost entirely glossed over. The amount of unnecessary miming and sound effects from the chorus comes across as juvenile rather than clever, the over use of these techniques distracting, time consuming, and at times just plain obnoxious. The dialogue is gabbled and the lack of any real emotion makes it impossible to even get the gist of what’s going on when lines come out gabbled and confusing. Honestly, if I didn’t have a press release to read before going in I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what the show had been about. Not all shows need to have a discernable plot, I agree, but they do at least need to evoke some sort of emotional response, and sadly Fine and Dandy just didn’t have either.

There’s some sensitive subject matter in Fine and Dandy, one of the main plot points being Ernest’s discovery of a ‘Two-Spirit’ shaman, ‘Two-Spirit’ being a person Native American tribes believe are neither male nor female. It’s a fantastic idea but is handled so clumsily that it feels almost insensitive, which I’m reluctant to say due to the cast and crew being made up of many artists on the queer spectrum themselves. It’s clear to see that the intentions here were good, but the poor execution means that sadly the show is miles off of hitting its mark.


Fine and Dandy ~ [The King's Head Theatre] ~ Review
★★☆☆☆

Every queer person who has managed to take the brave leap out of the closet remembers their coming out story, an important milestone and a huge step towards self acceptance and living your truth. Personally mine was anti-climactic, I’d been dating my then girlfriend in secret for about six months, having told my parents we were just really good friends and had a lot of sleepovers. This one Sunday morning my mum came to pick me up from my girlfriend’s house and as she drove me home I decided that this was it, this was the day I’d let her know about this secret double life I’d been leading. This was the moment my life was about to change forever.

“Mum...” I said, “I, erm, I have something to tell you... I don’t know how you’re going to react... See, the thing is... I... erm...”
“You’re a lesbian,” Mum said for me, “And you’re dating Emily. I know. And it’s fine. You are who you are and I will always love you, you’re my daughter.”
And that was it. I was almost disappointed... almost.

But for every coming out story as positive as my experience there’s another story about a family torn apart by the revelation, and it’s these wildly varied and deeply personal tales Freddie Brook explores in his one man show Just Don’t Shout it from the Rooftops. Over the past two years Brook has collected coming out stories from all over the world and has woven them together into an educational and deeply touching piece of theatre. He explores the vast spectrum of experiences with a great deal of understanding and sensitivity, and although there are moments which are truly heart-breaking, the overall take away is positive and uplifting, one core message running through its centre – it gets better.

The show is made up of stories performed in the original teller’s words, giving a real candid, fly-on-the-wall feel to this piece and making it all the more poignant. Brook is a fantastic physical actor who captures the different visible quirks and speech patterns of these people wonderfully, so with each story it really does feel as though you’re meeting a different person. The pace of this show is fast, and in forty five minutes there isn’t a single lull, a single stumble, and the audience remains enraptured throughout. With nothing more than two pairs of glasses and a coffee cup, I’ve never seen anything so technically simple explore a topic this big with such earnest depth and complexity.

The idea behind this show is for it to be used as a piece of educational theatre to take to schools all over the country, to teach kids about the coming out experience, that they aren’t alone and it does get better. Open discussion and a little support is all that’s needed for LGBTQ+ children to not feel so alone, and this forty five minutes of theatre could be life changing. I wish I’d seen this when I was at school. Although things have gotten better for LGBTQ+ rights over the years homophobia is still rife, particularly in areas outside of big cities, and as someone who grew up in a tiny village I can tell you that knowing you’re not alone can be the difference between misery and happiness. Every high school kid should see this. Every parent should see this.

Just Don’t Shout it from the Rooftops showcases the bravery and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community in a deeply personal and human way. There are moments which make you laugh out loud, whilst others will bring you to tears and leave you curled up in your seat and bawling like a baby (like one very moved reviewer...). The show is concluded with a few inspirational words from Brook himself and some fantastic advice for the community in general. There’s something quite profound about Just Don’t Shout it from the Rooftops, there’s a sense of hearts reaching out to other hearts from right across the world, a web of love, support, and understanding, with Brook orchestrating these connections and acting as the mouthpiece for the guidance we wish we had the power to give one another.


Just Don’t Shout It From The Rooftops ~ [The King's Head Theatre] ~ Review
★★★★★

Birds of Paradise is a funny, charming, and heartfelt musical from Winnie Holzman, the writer of the
smash hit Broadway and West End show Wicked. This is the sort of musical which will leave you
smiling, but without so much sweetness you get toothache. The story follows a community theatre
group in a small town, a group which provides an escape from the monotony of everyday life for its
members. Although there may be some bickering, the group is all agreed that they’re there for the
same purpose – to have fun. But this all changes when a face from the past arrives in town, Laurence
left years ago to pursue a career as a Broadway actor, surely a success story to inspire! But when
Laurence hears a song from the musical which one of the community theatre actors, Homer, has
written he makes the decision to direct the show. What ensues is a power struggle between a writer
desperate to maintain the heart of his work, and a director with an ambitious creative vision.

There are a lot of shows about making shows, but this has the nice angle that it’s set within a
community theatre setting. The relationships the characters have with theatre, and with each other,
is the core of the musical, and there’s no denying that it leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling as you
leave the theatre. There’s great energy from start to finish, with incredible voices across the board.
The quality of acting drastically surpasses anything you might expect to find in pub theatre, none of
the cast would look out of place on a major West End stage. The musical itself is a hidden treasure, a
simple but hugely entertaining piece about people and art. Some of the songs are hit and miss,
though generally very enjoyable, none of them are particularly memorable, although it hardly
matters in the moment as this show and its music is brilliantly uplifting.

The lighting design for Birds of Paradise is particularly good, a clever series of spotlights and fades
which really enhances the action, dialogue, and songs and adds another layer to what’s happening
on stage. The whole production feels very reminiscent of Jonathan Larson’s Tick Tick Boom! In the
way in which it deals with the connection between people and the theatre they invest themselves in.
It’s about maintaining the integrity of creation in a world that measures success by popularity and
money made. It’s also a witty, tongue in cheek parody of the process of making a musical hit that
sticks. It objectively explores the fine line between taking direction, making changes, and destroying
the heart of creative work.

Overall, Birds of Paradise is a delightfully entertaining musical with bags of character, it’s
wonderfully sentimental in the best way and highly recommended!


Birds of Paradise ~ [The Drayton Arms Theatre] ~ Review
★★★★

This double-bill is an absolute treat, a rejuvenation of two lesser known one act Tenessee Williams plays from theatre company Blunt Pyramid. Although both plays were written in the 1940s their themes are as relevant today as they have ever been, discussing issues such as prostitution and domestic abuse in an unflinchingly human way.

Hello from Bertha is the doomed tale of a young woman who has lost her way. We find Bertha at her lowest point, sick, washed up, and penniless. Alcohol, prostitution, and helpless misery have left Bertha bedridden and unable to work, and during the course of the play we see her try to plead her case with the owner of the bordello in which she lives and plies her trade in. The proprietor of the establishment, Goldie, wants her room cleared out for a girl capable of working, Bertha is taking up valuable bed space and therefore losing her money, but Bertha is head sick and delusional and refuses to budge.

This is a hard but honest portrayal of lost youth and innocence, we see the terrible results of one woman’s fall from grace and the hopelessness of situation she finds herself in. Hannah Dale, who stars in the title role, absolutely makes this show. Her fearless performance as the young working-girl whose drink-addled brain can no longer differentiate between what’s real and what’s not is heart-breaking. Broken both mentally and physically, possibly beyond repair, this poor woman’s desperation is conveyed with no-holds-barred by Dale as she quite literally drags herself around the stage and rambles hysterically in the vain hope that someone will come to save her.

27 Wagons Full of Cotton is the story of a young couple struggling to keep their heads above water and the place of a woman in the rural south of America in the 1930s. When her controlling husband takes on the task of working twenty seven wagons of cotton after the cotton gin of their neighbour Silva mysteriously burns down, Flora finds herself having to spend an afternoon alone on the porch with her husband’s dominating new employer. In the air between them hangs a terrible secret, and what follows is an agonising game of cat-and-mouse as the menacing Silva attempts to pry the secret from lips.

Dark and unsettling, 27 Wagons deals with themes of domestic abuse and sexual violence, and touches on themes of poverty and racism. Sam Raffal’s spine chilling performance as the oily slick and dangerous Silva is enough to make you tremble – from his serpent like Southern drawl to his predatory physicality, he dominates the stage with a threatening presence that’s impossible to ignore. The innocent and simple minded Flora is played to perfection by Hollie Murten, who is both funny and wonderfully endearing. Flora’s glow of naivety and innocence makes this tale even more unnerving, it’s enough to make the audience want to jump onstage and whisk her away from these horrible and violent men before they can inevitably destroy her.

Both plays take a hard look at the problems faced by women in a world dominated by men. Troubling and thought-provoking, you’ll leave the theatre with goose bumps, guaranteed. The quality of acting is first class and the direction is simple but incredibly effective. This is Tenessee Williams at his finest, executed with sensitivity, care, and heart.


Hello From Bertha and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton ~ [Hen and Chickens Theatre] ~ Review
★★★★