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Director Katie Mitchell brilliantly rises to the challenge of adapting Rebecca Watson’s innovative debut novel for the stage' The story originally started life as a prize shortlisted short story – and that story forms the midpoint of the day and is reproduced in full in the novel and gives a good sense of the book – much better than I think I have or can manage or that the formatting on Goodreads easily allows. While the story starts off rather brilliantly, it fell flat for me in the second half. The text ultimately does not do justice to its weighty themes, nor does it achieve a satisfying balance of the profound to the banal. Much of it feels like a short story, stretched too far (incidentally, parts of the text were previously published in short story format). Another issue – perhaps related to the youth of the author – is that Watson does not fully trust her reader. It feels, at times, like a sermon on #metoo and related topics – intended for readers desperately in need of education. (I personally prefer a lighter hammer.) The theatre’s Artistic Director, Roxana Silbert, will direct Nell Leyshon’s new play Folk. Inspired by a true story and set in Leyshon’s home county of Somerset, this beautiful new play will feature live folk song. Ben Allen, Sasha Frost, Mariam Haque and Simon Robson will perform in Folk from 18 December until 5 February 2022. Somewhat formally indebted to Sarah Kane’s ‘4.48 Psychosis’ (albeit not as bleak) I suppose you’d call it a play for voices. It’s performed by four actors – Moronkẹ Akinola, Eleanor Henderson, Eve Ponsonby and Ragevan Vasan –who throw themselves into the role emotionally, but don’t do a lot of body acting, their most ostentatious movements involving creating sound effects from the variety of props scattered on the desks they stand behind. It is ultra-minimalist: there is no set designer, and reclaimed materials are used to craft what set there is. Mitchell’s usual sound designer Melanie Wilson is on hand to add atmospheric flourishes, notably an injection of ambient dread at the right moments and a few swish surround sound effects (Wilson’s design does a lot more heavy lifting than the foley-ish interventions of the actors, it has to be said). It would work almost as well on radio, although there’s something profoundly affecting about the way Bethany Gupwell’s lighting drops to almost total darkness during the last minutes.
The text seems to be partly autobiographical. Like the narrator, Watson has worked at various roles in her life (as an assistant, waitress, cleaner) where she was at the bottom of the power chain: “I have been screamed at, groped, and patronised in various junior jobs. What has always been clear is that while some enjoy the power, others seem to genuinely believe that the divide in front of them is dictated by God, that hierarchy has a moral, qualitative value.” ( Source) A rhythmic and psychological audio experience in which Mitchell plays with artistic control' WhatsOnStageThe thoughts are a mixture of the prosaic, describing the sights, sounds and feelings of a working day sequentially, and deeper undercurrents which gradually come to dominate the book , as the reasons for the narrator's unease around her book are clarified. Folk will feature Ben Allen ( Measure for Measure, Donmar), Sasha Frost ( The Lightning Child, Shakespeare's Globe), Mariam Haque ( Behind the Beautiful Forevers, National Theatre) and Simon Robson ( The Schumann Plan, Hampstead Theatre).
Auditory Guidance: The production uses techniques that may impact audience members who experience misophonia. There are ear defenders available at the box office. The authorial figure in the book is actually telegraphed for those that read it properly. She is “R” (naturally!)
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The thing is the problems such as getting up, the scratchiness etc all stem from the same problem and the book goes into a dark rabbit hole, where we find out that the narrator has undergone a traumatic experience. Recently, commenting on young England star Lauren James’s performance in a match, footballer Gemma Davison described it as “like going to the theatre”. So the comparisons continue. When football is played gorgeously, when our players do something inspired, we reach for the beyond to capture what we have just experienced, to assert that we have witnessed something more than just the simple formula in front of us. When we say football is like theatre, really, we are saying that there is something disguised within the game; something beyond itself. We are describing a live-ness: not the fact of being alive, but the thrill that sometimes being alive is unbelievable.
A superb staging, this version of the dazzling book achieves the same lingering power using a quartet of actors’ The Guardian
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Why can’t I praise a woman’s shoes, is the strident reaction. This clearly misses the point that not every man is being creepy, but it is important (should be obvious) that all men start to recognise this type of male gaze even if they are not personally culpable. me softening, him softening, me not needing this, him not needing this, unable to still him how I used to but still, him softening, head tight my head tight tight tight tight why always this when I need it least, if I told him I was raped would he dismiss it? shrug his shoulders say good for you I know he would not be like that really really (and yet my head says he would) (well why don’t I try it then hey)
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