Ava Wong Davies Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★★

“a gem of a play, soft and lyrical and full of promise”

I will still be whole (when you rip my in half) opens beautifully. The two performers begin to tell the story, together, sharing sentences, before they become its two protagonists: a mother who left her newborn child after a hellish pregnancy, and her now grown daughter, in search of her mother and in search of herself.

The script is delicately written by Ava Wong Davies, skipping between the ornateness of poetic language and the brutality of everyday experience. It dives between their stories, only to bring them together in the final scene for the reunion of mother and daughter, a reunion that one has looked for and one hasn’t.

The two performers balance each other so well under Helen Morley’s direction. Tuyen Do as Joy has a lovely softness to her, which compliments the harshness of the decision she has to make to hold herself together. Contrastingly, we get to meet EJ (Aoife Hinds) on a night out, alone apart from the girl she is kissing, then alone again apart from a fox in the road, then alone again apart from the firefighters and residents gathered around a house going up in flames. A surreal, neurotic journey that echoes her emotional state.

There are points where the pace suffers, the energy dulls, points that don’t demand our engagement and attention. But its tenderness is also part of its charm when the balance is right.

The set, designed by Grace Venning, unites the two characters visually – even before they meet – through a tree branch both of them see from the window of the bedroom they have consecutively lived in.

This is a gem of a play, soft and lyrical and full of promise.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Fran Cattaneo

I Will Still be Whole (When You Rip me in Half)

The Vaults

Reviewed – 27th February 2019

★★★½

“It is a shame that this show does not quite reach its full potential. Nonetheless, its moving dialogue and authentic voice make it easy to watch”

Joy watches her baby daughter sleeping. The baby opens her eyes, looks up at her mother, and smiles. With one swift motion, Joy turns and leaves the house, leaves her old life, leaves her child’s life. She will disappear for twenty years.

Today is the day. EJ will look into her mother’s eyes for the first time in over two decades. But what will she see? Will there be a reconciliation, or will the past create a barrier between them?

Ava Wong Davies’ examination of the fractured relationship between mother and daughter is intertwined with political and social commentary and executed with poetic flair. Her writing is detailed, yet restrained: it invites intrigue, but holds just enough back to keep us guessing. Whilst tackling the mother-daughter relationship, she simultaneously makes subtle commentary on identity and its instability. Although EJ seems confident, her idealisation of the white woman she met on a night out suggests that she less self-assured than we imagined. In one particularly striking scene, Joy recalls her attempts to erase all traces of foreignness. She stops cooking Chinese food for her colleagues. She practises her British accent in front of the mirror. It pays off: when people hear her clipped, unaccented voice, they smile, treat her differently.

Wong Davies’ writing is beautiful and moving, but I couldn’t help wishing that the promised discussion of ‘inherited trauma and the essential violence of whiteness’ has been more front and centre. The Pit, a small and intimate venue in the Vaults Theatre, is the ideal place to confront these issues close up. Perhaps it was director Helen Morley’s efforts to maintain pace, or the invasiveness of Amanda Fleming’s music, but it felt as though important moments evaporated too quickly.

This is unfortunate, because the production as a whole is well executed. Kailing Fu’s Joy is elusive without being too distant. Her direct honesty and deadpan wit make Joy likeable, whilst maintaining the self-imposed barrier that she has chosen to hide behind. EJ (Rosa Escoda) comes to life vividly; her uncensored authenticity make her accessible to the audience, a perfect contrast to Joy. The physical separation of the two is marked by a line of objects – shoes, a bottle of water, a bowl of oranges – that is gradually broken down as the play reaches its climax. The design is effective without feeling too contrived, and is an efficient use of the small, slightly cramped stage.

It is a shame that this show does not quite reach its full potential. Nonetheless, its moving dialogue and authentic voice make it easy to watch. My advice: take some time to sit and think about what you have just seen, it will impress the more you reflect.

Tag Archives: Ava Wong Davies

I Will Still Be Whole (When You Rip Me In Half)

★★★★

The Bunker

The Bunker

Reviewed – 14th November 2019

★★★★

“a gem of a play, soft and lyrical and full of promise”

There are points where the pace suffers, the energy dulls, points that don’t demand our engagement and attention. But its tenderness is also part of its charm when the balance is right.

The set, designed by Grace Venning, unites the two characters visually – even before they meet – through a tree branch both of them see from the window of the bedroom they have consecutively lived in.

This is a gem of a play, soft and lyrical and full of promise.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Fran Cattaneo

I Will Still Be Whole (When You Rip Me In Half)

The Bunker until 23rd November

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Box Clever | ★★★★★ | March 2019

Killymuck | ★★★★ | March 2019

My White Best Friend | ★★★★★ | March 2019

Funeral Flowers | ★★★½ | April 2019

Fuck You Pay Me | ★★★★ | May 2019

The Flies | ★★★ | June 2019

Have I Told You I’m Writing a Play About my Vagina? | ★★★★ | July 2019

Jade City | ★★★ | September 2019

Germ Free Adolescent | ★★★★ | October 2019

We Anchor In Hope | ★★★★ | October 2019

Click here to see our most recent reviews

I Will Still be Whole (When You Rip me in Half)
★★★½

VAULT Festival

The Vaults

Reviewed – 27th February 2019

★★★½

“It is a shame that this show does not quite reach its full potential. Nonetheless, its moving dialogue and authentic voice make it easy to watch”

Joy watches her baby daughter sleeping. The baby opens her eyes, looks up at her mother, and smiles. With one swift motion, Joy turns and leaves the house, leaves her old life, leaves her child’s life. She will disappear for twenty years.

Today is the day. EJ will look into her mother’s eyes for the first time in over two decades. But what will she see? Will there be a reconciliation, or will the past create a barrier between them?

It is a shame that this show does not quite reach its full potential. Nonetheless, its moving dialogue and authentic voice make it easy to watch. My advice: take some time to sit and think about what you have just seen, it will impress the more you reflect.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

I Will Still be Whole (When You Rip me in Half)

Part of VAULT Festival 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com