MARCELLA’S MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT at the Jack Studio Theatre
★★
“Lincoln is at her best when she portrays characters from her past”
Versatile actress Mary Lincoln writes and performs this hour long one person show, directed by Samuel Ripman. The story is set in Marcella’s loft – a deathtrap of a space with low headbanging beams and dodgy electrics, strewn with a lifetime of boxes and miscellanea (Production Designer Mark Tildesley). Marcella’s quandary is that she is about to put into the loft eight identical items bought as redundant Christmas presents but feels in the spirit of decluttering that she should throw out eight existing items. This leads her down memory lane and she regales us with a series of anecdotes as she selects the items for recycling – mostly old costumes collected in a lifetime as a theatrical chorus girl. Of course, the simplest thing would be to have thrown out the eight items of no use whatsoever and hung on to these precious items with their history and their memories. But hey-ho.
Marcella is a sprightly lady in her sixties dressed appropriately for chores in black dungarees and a headscarf (Costume Designer Suzanne Bell). Right from the outset, she steps forward to speak to the audience. Is this Mary Lincoln the actor-writer stepping out of character and speaking as herself or Marcella the character? Are we invited into Marcella’s loft to be part of the drama or is this a sort of stand-up comedy routine? I am confused.
Marcella clambers around the space. Some of the movement is clumsy, which is understandable as this is a cluttered roof space after all. But showing the movement from ground floor into loft, and vice versa feels uncomfortable. And the costume rail is positioned so far upstage that Marcella disappears from view when she goes behind it which is unfortunate. Her constant rattling of the clothes hangers is also an irritation.
Some of the costumes come with their own half-remembered showtunes that we hear Marcella humming inside her head. A lovely idea, but with the lo-fi sound recording and whispery rendition the sound comes out as more underwhelming than ghostly. And in case we don’t understand what is happening here, a coloured spotlight onto the clothing rail gives us a visual clue. (Lighting/Sound Designer Stuart Glover).
I’m sorry to say that nothing here is very interesting. An acting out of the poem Megan Marries Herself whilst Marcella parades around in a hideous veil that she has long ago bought from a charity shop (why?) loses direction. The crucial central story of the green coat has Marcella dressing herself in plastic wrapping, and despite the moving nature of the tale’s poignant ending the rendition is too long and Marcella’s sweeping movements of the plastic covering too distracting to be fully effective.
To give the actress credit though, this is Mary’s magnificently remembered monologue, maintained with moments of melodrama. Lincoln is at her best when she portrays characters from her past; playing her younger self playing St Joan is very funny, the supportive Scottish drama teacher is endearing, and best of all is her portrayal of Marcella’s Italian Catholic matriarch. Perhaps these elements of the play could be extended further – allow the actress to act – and reduce the breaking of the fourth wall.
A programme note explains the genesis of the work and the family nature of the piece. Perhaps, though, this actor and director are too close to the stories the play contains and it needs an outside interpreter to maximise the work’s dramatic potential. Just a thought.
MARCELLA’S MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT at the Jack Studio Theatre
Reviewed on 26th September 2024
by Phillip Money
Photography by Rodney Smith
Previously reviewed at this venue:
DEPTFORD BABY | ★★★ | July 2024
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING | ★★★ | August 2022
RICHARD II | ★★★★★ | February 2022
HOLST: THE MUSIC IN THE SPHERES | ★★★★★ | January 2022
PAYNE: THE STARS ARE FIRE | ★★★ | January 2022
TRESTLE | ★★★ | June 2021
MARCELLA’S MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT
MARCELLA’S MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT
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