Reviewer: Rachel Foster
Upstaged rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Green Door is a one-woman (Arts Council funded) play created by Ann Brown (who also plays herself) and Made It Theatre. It’s about a woman who falls in love, gets married and sadly the fairytale of the white picket fence isn’t quite what’s expected, or what she gets.
This play is the full version of an earlier preview which was based on Ann’s life events, starting when she’s divorced, in her 30’s and on holiday meets Danny a man with shiny shoes who initially seems to be prince charming but turns out to be a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.’
Brown has a great delivery from the get-go that brings this pared-back strikingly honest play to life. She gives the audience a glimpse into her world, with witty commentary on the working-class nuclear family. It’s simple but effective.
The play explores her relationship with her parents (her Dad has Alzheimer’s disease), uses music to show the entertainment carefree side of the situation.
Her careful choice of words, relayed in such an honest open way, makes a big impact on the audience. How fun everything is at first with dancing and holidays. Danny seems to be the perfect romantic, hanging on her every word, sharing her love for rock n roll and Shakin’ Stevens.
Things inevitably take a turn for the worse when he dumps her cruelly just before Valentine’s Day…with more to come. It highlights how women often feel that ‘something just isn’t right’, dealing in the emotional, rather than logic.
It’s also important to mention the healing process, so the play’s theme is not all doom and gloom, a phoenix rising from the ashes as it was. Brown was consumed with fear she was challenged to face it by her therapy group. Public speaking was her Achilles heel. From not daring to say boo to a goose she has overcome this (stemming from coercive control and gaslighting). Thus her being here tonight to perform her play. She’s nothing to hide behind in the glare of the stage lights. But she’s here to tell her story, and as she gains momentum will keep telling it again and again and again.
This is a different take on the play to the preview – it seems rawer – Ann is still tackling a lot of the pain and the destruction that hampered her life. Briefly, Brown bravely lets us in on it all. Let’s hope more people find the strength to do this and even those that don’t, can’t fail to be inspired.
Green Door is a really powerful and positive play about overcoming adversity; with a special message saying no matter how alone you feel, there is always someone who cares. Sadly, the domestic violence statistics in this country tell us that Ann is not alone in suffering, and that is why she is using theatre as a tool to get her message and voice to reach as many people as possible.
-Rachel Foster
You can catch Green Door next at Square Chapel Arts, Halifax on Thursday 2 April 2020.