LOVE,
LOSS AND WHAT I WORE
Chelmsford
Theatre Workshop at the Old Court Theatre
24.01.17
The
joys and sorrows of women's lives,
reflected in the wardrobe mirror. This show, by sisters Nora and
Delia Ephron, takes its many monologues from Ilene Beckerman's book
of the same name.
Like
The Vagina Monologues – done to great acclaim at this address last
year – it's often staged as a celebrity reading. Not here: Sally
Ransom has set the action on a catwalk; there's some fashion-show
strutting, too, with music
tracks to match.
But
no clothes-hanger mannequins, just
seven ordinary women;
all of the
actors successfully
suggest the triumphs and the tribulations behind
the boots and the purses, the skirts and the socks.
And
they
also
open up in the programme about the one garment that means most to
them personally.
The
confessional style works well in the monologues: the
inspired “Hate my purse” soliloquy,
the
perfect shirt, the
touching Southern fantasy, immediately followed by the searing
“that's my dress!” trauma. There are ensemble numbers, too: The
“Black!” sextet [all the costumes are black, too, save for the wordless three brides number], the three
sisters, the changing room, the
brassiere parade, the
“nothing to wear” sequence. Perhaps some of them could be
snappier;
a greater variety of pace would help keep
the audience engaged.
Stephanie
Yorke-Edwards plays Gingy, the artist and author whose collection of
clothes sketches became the book and then the play. She is
particularly moving as the “forgotten
woman” grandmother
at the end, who realises that her personal thoughts were personal to
other people too. Her
six fellow actors play many
characters, from the ungrateful teenagers to
the mastectomy survivor. They are Jacquie Newman, Sally Rawlins,
Leanne Young, Charlotte Norburn, Caroline Dunsmuir and Helen Quigley.Between them they bring to life a huge variety of American women, fearlessly sharing their secrets and their love-hate relationships with the clothes in their closet.
