Drayton Arms Theatre Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

★

“a confusing and frustrating experience”

Sarah Quand Même is a one-woman show about the life of Sarah Bernhardt, a French actress who recalls her life to her granddaughter Lysiane. You need to know that the entire play is performed in a thick French accent with a shrill infantilising affectation that grows tiring over the course of 80 minutes. There is little distinction between the various characters in Sarah’s life which also makes it almost impossible to discern different voices; an absolutely terminal mistake for a one-woman show. The play is a confusing and frustrating experience as a result. There are brief moments where some kind of distinction between characters is made, allowing occasional insight and intrigue into her life- but these are few and far between.

Written and acted by Susie Lindeman, Sarah is performed in a one note state seemingly permanently on the verge of crying in an over-the top fashion that speeds through dialogue. Moments in Sarah’s life that are genuinely heartfelt feel parodied and lost in the hysterical mess of scenes that are sometimes separated with the sound of champagne popping. The viewer is left totally lost and unable to understand any kind of story. In a curious choice of direction by Wayne Harrison, pieces of paper scattered across the stage are picked up, played with and discarded as we go through the chapters of Sarah’s life, possibly in homage to her life reading scripts. The tale of a poorly received and misunderstood actor feels hard to sympathise with when watching a play that is so worthy of criticism.

A lone highlight is the atmospheric and evocative lighting design (Martin Kinnane). The use of footlights evoke the stage lighting of Sarah’s era and heighten scenes, even when what is happening in them is unclear. The bold spotlights contrast with the ethereal colours as Lindeman floats around the stage in various night dresses. Another surprisingly well executed aspect is the set design. A decadent set of regency chairs and a deep red chaise lounge place us well in the time period, accompanied by Art deco posters and a light-bulb adorned dressing room desk (Justin Nardella).

As all linear biographies are destined to end with a death, It is not a surprise that Sarah Quand Même includes an almost comically slow and drawn out death that epitomises the problems with the performance. No amount of beautiful and underused set could fix the issues with the piece and the 80 minutes spent in the Drayton Arms could be better spent on more polished and watchable shows. Sarah Bernhardt may have been a fascinating and extraordinary person in her time but this performance did not portray this through its content or execution.

Bruised Fruit

Drayton Arms Theatre

Reviewed – 26th August 2019

★★★★★

Babies and Bathwater

★★★★

Untouchables

★★★½

“a robust and effective collaboration”

There are times during the strong double bill Bruised Fruit when you want to cheer the women sharing their stories for being such no-nonsense and independent survivors.

In both short plays the women portrayed might be perceived as victims – but the drama allows them to reclaim their narratives. After all, the very term “bruised fruit” doesn’t just mean someone who is damaged: in present day parlance it also means someone overcoming adversity and growing through their experience.

The two half hour plays are brought together by Amy Garner Buchanan and Hayley Ricketson who say they have “designed, produced and everything elsed.” Amy wrote the first play while Hayley wrote the second, with Amy performing and Hayley directing both. It’s a robust and effective collaboration with a real sense of the pair exploring and developing ideas at every stage.

In Babies and Bathwater we meet Evelyn Parker, a housewife from Maidenhead, pleading in a court to divorce her husband. It is the story of a wide-eyed young girl being seduced by everything a man is and does and realising that her identity is completely entwined with his. For her divorce provides the chance to be heard and the opportunity to escape an unconventional relationship. We are kept in the dark for a lot of the time, following Evelyn as she seeks to discover her true self and being given hints of the truth. We wonder if this is a version of The Handmaid’s Tale, an example of religious or psychological trauma, or a take on the giving of consent and #MeToo until things turn quirky and rather more legendary.

It’s a neat twist which adds terrific humour to the monologue yet neither actor or director let it take over the story. Buchanan gives the character such heart and personality that you recognise her own claim that she is not a fruit, all soft and malleable, but a timebomb waiting to explode.

Untouchables is more heartbreaking, the story of chef and single mother Nadine, who is drawn to a club where she finds herself gazing regularly at a young female stripper. She may have been the victim of a faceless male predator (a thread runs through both plays of women somehow feeling they are to blame for their situations and finding their voice in a patriarchal society) but she spots in the dancer someone more damaged and empty. Nadine is, however, far harder to fathom and remains enigmatic.

Both Buchanan and Ricketson have a keen eye and ear for the power of storytelling and manage to cram a lot of strong emotion and resilience into the two half hours. In the hands of Buchanan, both women in the story come alive and we are certainly left hoping each can win their true place in the world.

This enthralling double bill finds the essential nature of two women who refuse to be defined by negative experiences and the resulting trauma. It brings together two separate cries from female hearts and makes their voices count in a sea of hostility and disinterest.

SARAH QUAND MÊME at the Drayton Arms Theatre

★

“a confusing and frustrating experience”

SARAH QUAND MÊME at the Drayton Arms Theatre

Reviewed on 29th February 2024

by Jessica Potts

Photography by Darren Struwig

Recently reviewed by Jessica:

SARAH QUAND MÊME

SARAH QUAND MÊME

Drayton Arms Theatre

Reviewed – 26th August 2019

★★★★★

Babies and Bathwater

★★★★

Untouchables

★★★½

“a robust and effective collaboration”

There are times during the strong double bill Bruised Fruit when you want to cheer the women sharing their stories for being such no-nonsense and independent survivors.

It’s a neat twist which adds terrific humour to the monologue yet neither actor or director let it take over the story. Buchanan gives the character such heart and personality that you recognise her own claim that she is not a fruit, all soft and malleable, but a timebomb waiting to explode.

This enthralling double bill finds the essential nature of two women who refuse to be defined by negative experiences and the resulting trauma. It brings together two separate cries from female hearts and makes their voices count in a sea of hostility and disinterest.

Reviewed by David Guest

Bruised Fruit

Drayton Arms Theatre

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

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