The Lowry Studio

REVIEW: I, Myself and Me (The Lowry Theatre, Salford)

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reviewer: Ciaran ward
upstaged rating: 

For anybody who is not accustomed to solo shows, I, Myself and Me (created, written and performed by Rachael Young), serves as a delightful introduction to the form, one that is as entertaining and captivating as any other genre of theatre. With generous and well-interspersed portions of humour, paired with the thoughtful inclusion of audience participation, Young’s autobiographical material is expressed in a medium that encapsulates the struggles any single woman in their late thirties can encounter on a day-to-day basis.

Standing on a set (designed by Naomi Kuyck-Cohen) that comprises of a neglected garden, a palm tree, various plant pots and two microphone stands, Rachael Young gives the audience an insight into her life. Learning that she is someone with Caribbean lineage and a working class background allows everyone to engage with her, creating a rapport that engenders an honest and comfortable atmosphere. Through this, she imparts some personal recollections, ranging from the comical anecdote that details her using said palm tree in the absence of a real partner at a school dance, all the way to the heartfelt confession that she didn’t visit her mother’s grave for eleven years.

This sentimentally is explored further in Young’s building up of the garden: an emotional endeavour that is revealed to be an homage to the garden her mother took pride in maintaining. In the background, video footage (edited by Lucy Skilbeck) is projected onto a pull-out screen as she does this, presenting a journey of her buying flowers and finally visiting her mother’s grave.

A dramatic shift in the format of the piece (metamorphosing into one that is reminiscent of a television game show) is introduced when a member of the audience, named Kash, joins Young on stage. Here, the former attempts to help the latter with two challenges, the first entailing the both of them running a lap ‘faster than Usain Bolt’ on the floor, with the second involving Kash navigating the blindfolded Young around a series of mini cacti. The contrast in lighting (designed by Alyssa Watts and Eva G Alonso) aids this transformation, with a spotlight on Young being replaced by stark floodlighting in moments of physical activity.

I, Myself and Me may be a solo show, but it is in no way uniform in nature. The unique performance offered by Young and the unconventional dramatic techniques featured makes for a diverse and compelling interactive monologue.

-Ciaran Ward

You can see Rachael Young performing a work in progress of her new show OUT at the  Steakhouse Live Festival in  Richmix, London on Friday 14th October 2016.

 

REVIEW – Dirty Pakistani Lingerie (Touring – The Lowry, Salford)

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Aizzah Fatima in Dirty Pakistani Lingerie ©Elisse Lesser
Aizzah Fatima in Dirty Pakistani Lingerie
©Elisse Lesser
UPSTAGED RATING: 

Written and performed by Aizzah Fatima, Dirty Pakistani Lingerie finally landed in Greater Manchester last week after a considerable tour around the globe. Winning several awards and the approval of theatre critics, this one woman show has been well received at the Edinburgh Fringe as well as across America, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

Poised to the backdrop of post 9/11 America, Dirty Pakistani Lingerie explores the stories and experiences of six different Pakistani-American women. The six female characters were developed from a series of interviews that Fatima conducted with women in the New York and New Jersey area. Developed by Erica Gould, Aizzah Fatima plays the diverse range of personas with superb physicality, smoothly shifting from one to the next and juxtaposing the deeply moving with the infectiously comical. Six-year-old Zahra, who likes roti at home but just wants a sandwich at school like Emma K, shares the same stage as hilarious sixty-year-old Asma who is desperately ringing ads from the Urdu Times Matrimonial section in the hope of finding her daughter an impressive suitor.

Dirty Pakistani Lingerie probes important issues surrounding the notion of a hyphenated identity and blows apart some of the myths and preconceptions surrounding women of Pakistani descent. It’s a universal issue and not just one that is relevant to Pakistani-American women. Aizzah Fatima’s bold writing fuses with Erica Gould’s intelligent direction to open a dialogue about the struggle to assimilate Western society while preserving the culture of origin, as Fatima highlights – ‘you grow where you are planted’. All of the women we meet in this production occupy a junction between two very different cultures.

This entertaining and meaningful production has more mileage than the current running time of 65 minutes, there is room for the characters to be fleshed out even more and I would be keen to see it undergo further development.

Perhaps most poignantly, Dirty Pakistani Lingerie celebrates and presents real Muslim American women – seeking to shatter any stereotypes by giving women of South Asian descent, who are often underrepresented in theatre, a voice.

-Kristy Stott

Dirty Pakistani Lingerie continues its tour at Unity Theatre, Liverpool on 1st April 2016, The Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick on 8th April 2016, Burnley Arts Centre on 9th April 2016 and The Bureau Centre for the Arts, Blackburn on 10th April 2016. Click on the venues to get your tickets.

REVIEW – STUFF (The Lowry)

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Date: 4 july 2015
Upstaged Rating: 

Toby and Jess are a successful young couple, deeply in love with each other and with the world at their feet, they appear to have everything. Well almost everything. The couple really want to start a family of their own, however early on in the play it is established Toby is unable to father a child. One night their zany, charismatic and terminally ill friend Xav arranges to visit and offers the couple first refusal on his ‘stuff’, which he has had frozen earlier in the day. This sounds like it could be quite a distressing storyline, doesn’t it? Fortunately for us, witty writer Mick Cooper approaches this potentially difficult scenario with insight, a good dollop of humour and likeable, well rounded characters.

Cooper’s script is fully realised by director Alice Bartlett and the wonderful cast of three. Peter Ash gives a fantastic performance as Toby; having just recently returned from army service, he looks bewildered at times, deeply in love with Jess and happy to comply with her fertility spreadsheets and ovulation charts. Eve Burley, as Jess, puts in a subtle and highly believable performance – playing the supportive partner to Toby and life-long friend to Xav.

Xav, exceptionally well acted by Karl Greenwood sweeps into Jess and Toby’s living room and scoops them both along with his humour and craziness. Despite being diagnosed with a brain tumour and the possibility of only having months to live, he is a perceptive character – giving and positive and also the main source of humour in the play.

It is no wonder that Stuff won the hearts of its audiences when it was first performed in 2014 at Manchester 24:7 Theatre Festival. Winning the Audience Favourite accolade, the beautifully balanced script is littered with familiar cultural references and a fair helping of  hilarious synonyms for the ‘stuff’ that Xav wants to give to the couple. The Northern crowd chortle when Xav describes the process of IVF using tubs of humous, taramasalata and a bread stick. Perhaps most importantly, the humour is balanced by a deeper insight into the position of the three characters. Cooper has fine tuned the subtle details of the script – our attention is drawn to Toby when he reveals his feelings around all of the infertility leaflets being pink and when we witness Xav and Toby thrashing out their differences, it is evident that this is a play driven by friendship.

-Kristy Stott

STUFF is being performed at The Etcetera Theatre in Camden as part of the Camden Fringe Festival  from 20th to 23rd August 2015.

You can visit My Beating Heart Theatre Company website for more information.