Mihaela Bodlovic Archives - Page 3 of 3

★★★★

“the story itself is nostalgic and heart-warming with a great soundtrack to boot”

Everyone has a fantasy of winning big; having your absolute pie-in-the-sky, never-in-a-million-years dream come true. But what happens after it does? On discovering the fearsome coolness of Patti Smith, young Cora decides she absolutely needs to sing in a band. So, she finds an ad in the local paper and does just that, and everything just seems to fall in to place. Ten gigs in and they’re already playing for all the biggest record label reps, and in no time they’re signed to Phonogram, on tour with the likes of Radiohead and Blur, trashing hotels and playing to 2,000-strong audiences. But after one bad review in NME, everything turns sour and Cora is left trying to work out what happens next.

Based on the actual events of Cora Bissett’s teenage years and directed by Orla O’Loughlin, What Girls Are Made Of charts the epic highs and crushing lows of quick fame, and the unforgiving nature of the industry, as well as the less romantic heartaches of life in general. The main message seems to be that few people’s lives glide along on an ever-ascending trajectory, and that a successful and full life is not defined by a lack of failure. This message is muddied in the ending’s slightly disappointing emphasis on the importance of being a mother, and passing the lessons down to the next generation, as though the rest of the story were only validated by her daughter’s existence. That being said it’s hard to argue with the plot seeing as it’s based on Bissett’s life – she did in fact want to be a mother, and she did succeed in doing so.

The design (Ana Inés Jabares-Pita) is a classic gig theatre set-up, and Bissett is joined on stage by her fellow band members, Simon Donaldson, Emma Smith and Harry Ward who also aid in her story, playing the parts of concerned parents, coked-up record label heads, shifty managers, and urm… Radiohead. The quality of musicianship is excellent, and the soundtrack takes us back to the rose-tinted memory of a teenager’s 90s – the Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and of course Patti Smith.

Bissett is an endearing and engaging story teller and though there might have been a little more grit in a true tale of rock-and-roll, the story itself is nostalgic and heart-warming with a great soundtrack to boot.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Mihaela Bodlovic

Woke

Battersea Arts Centre

Reviewed – 12th June 2019

★★★

“Campbell is a skilled performer, switching effortlessly between naïve teenager and experienced activist”

Nowadays, being woke is the standard. Yet it is also a given: of course we will be aware of certain issues, and naturally we will lend our voices to the collective. But how do we get there? In this powerful one woman show, Apphia Campbell explains how and why we become activists.

Driven by her love for the song ‘Saint Louis Blues’, Ambrosia is going to college in the city on a voice scholarship. It’s August 2014, just weeks after eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer. Ambrosia has been raised to respect the law; when the law doesn’t respect her, it comes as unwelcome shock – one that triggers action. Meanwhile, in 1970s New York, JoAnne Chesimard is experiencing a revelation of her own. Growing up, she was called many things. But now people call her African, an African queen. Inspired, she adopts a new name, Assata, and devotes her life to the Black Panthers. The ensuing hour shows how these two radically different women ended up on the same path, and how they choose to tread.

This is a well-crafted show, compelling and often moving. Accompanied onstage by only a microphone and minimal set, Campbell lets her words speak for themselves. The writing is full of clever details that make her characters engaging to watch; the contrast between the two is used to great effect. Ambrosia’s transformation from ignorant bystander to ardent activist is the perfect method of guiding the audience through Assata’s story and its significance. The mounting sense of disgust at the way both women are treated serves to highlight Campbell’s point: the fight has not been won. Assata and Ambrosia were born fifty years apart, yet they struggle for the same thing.

Campbell is a skilled performer, switching effortlessly between naïve teenager and experienced activist. Her voice is rich and soulful; the songs she performs come straight from the heart of the story as naturally as if they were spontaneous. Of the two performances, Assata feels more earnest and driven. Whilst Ambrosia has great character development, she does feel a little underwritten. Her thoughts and feelings whilst in hiding are explored only fleetingly. The conflict between pleasing her parents and expressing her political freedoms is a really interesting one – again it is quickly bypassed. It leaves a sense of something unfinished, of a story with more questions than answers.

Woke doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but that doesn’t diminish its power. Campbell shows that activists come from all walks of life. Some are born woke, some achieve wokeness – but, however we get there, every voice counts.

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 12th September 2019

★★★★

“the story itself is nostalgic and heart-warming with a great soundtrack to boot”

Bissett is an endearing and engaging story teller and though there might have been a little more grit in a true tale of rock-and-roll, the story itself is nostalgic and heart-warming with a great soundtrack to boot.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Mihaela Bodlovic

What Girls Are Made Of

Soho Theatre until 28th September

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Battersea Arts Centre

Reviewed – 12th June 2019

★★★

“Campbell is a skilled performer, switching effortlessly between naïve teenager and experienced activist”

Nowadays, being woke is the standard. Yet it is also a given: of course we will be aware of certain issues, and naturally we will lend our voices to the collective. But how do we get there? In this powerful one woman show, Apphia Campbell explains how and why we become activists.

Woke doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but that doesn’t diminish its power. Campbell shows that activists come from all walks of life. Some are born woke, some achieve wokeness – but, however we get there, every voice counts.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Mihaela Bodlovic

Woke

Battersea Arts Centre until 22nd June

Previously reviewed at this venue: