Tag Archives: Molly Beth Morossa

Lipstick: A Fairytale of Iran
★★★

Omnibus Theatre

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Lipstick: A Fairytale of Iran

Lipstick: A Fairytale of Iran

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed – 28th February 2019

★★★

 

“doesn’t shy away from tough politics but tries to fit too much in”

 

Lipstick: A Fairytale of Iran is part-theatre, part-cabaret show which hopes to balance heavy foreign affairs and human rights criticism against some, often more light-hearted, sexual politics. It makes the case that you cannot divorce art from politics, that the mere act of telling a story is in itself a political act.

It’s 2010 and narrator Orla, played by Siobhan O’Kelly, is struggling to come to terms with her recent six week, Government sponsored, trip to Tehran. Orla and best-friend and drag artist Mark, played by Nathan Kiley aka Topsie Redfern, are about to open their own drag night in Soho but far from being excited for their dream to finally come true, they’ve had an argument and need reconciliation. The story unfolds exploring Orla’s time in Iran, how it changed her, and how Mark coped behind in London without his munchkin.

Lipstick is unflinchingly critical of the Iranian state, referring to it’s indecency laws and the brutal retribution in kind or literal ‘eye for an eye’ law exemplified in the case of Ameneh Bahrami and Majid Movahedi. This is, however, in contrast to the people she meets in Tehran. The students in her classes, the receptionist at the hotel and, most touchingly, a carpet shop owner, are all complex characters portrayed with warmth and fondness.

Writer and director Sarah Chew draws clever parallels between Orla’s Northern Irish upbringing and the contemporary situation in Iran. One of Orla’s students notes that the British Embassy in Tehran is on Bobby Sands street, the only street with a British name in the city. There’s also a satisfying circularity when, early in the piece, Orla describes the paramilitary explosive of choice, Semtex, as smelling like marzipan. Later, she is comforted by a kindly offer of traditional Iranian rosewater sweets – made from marzipan.

Whilst all this is happening, Mark stays in touch from London on the phone and through music he’s preloaded onto an MP3 player for Orla’s trip. Mark’s character and journey don’t feel as deeply explored or neatly structured. This disconnect was then magnified by the use of pre-recorded voice, with Mark lip syncing often to his own voice. Whilst the tinny, distant sound of the pre-record was likely meant to evoke the 5,000 miles between Tehran and London, it instead limited the connection with his character. Although responsible for many of the biggest laughs and impressive vocal performances, it was a shame his arc wasn’t as critically explored as Orla’s, leaving him to fulfil the “Gay Best Friend” trope.

The stage featured a long catwalk with the audience sat either side, as if in the Soho club. Mark’s many costumes were effective in motion, although the props and tech experienced a few glitches which, although handled well, did not go unnoticed.

Lipstick doesn’t shy away from tough politics but tries to fit too much in, leaving the plot feeling lopsided, limping along behind. However, despite this, its ending is feel-good and will leave you smiling on your way out of the theatre.

 

Reviewed by Amber Woodward

Photography by Flavia Fraser-Cannon

 


Lipstick: A Fairytale of Iran

Omnibus Theatre until 24th March

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
My Dad the Magician | ★★★★ | March 2018
The North! The North! | ★★★ | March 2018
Gauhar Jaan – The Datia Incident | ★★★★ | April 2018
The Yellow Wallpaper | ★★★★ | June 2018
Blood Wedding | ★★★ | September 2018
Quietly | ★★★ | October 2018
To Have to Shoot Irishmen | ★★★★ | October 2018
The Selfish Giant | ★★★★ | December 2018
Hearing Things | ★★★★ | January 2019
The Orchestra | ★★★ | January 2019

 

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Carnival of Crows

Carnival of Crows
★★★★

VAULT Festival

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Carnival of Crows

Carnival of Crows

The Vaults

Reviewed – 13th February 2019

★★★★

 

“just the kind of gem of a production you always hope to find at a fringe festival”

 

A one-woman play set in a carnival just seems like an insurmountable challenge, made all the more difficult in such an intimate space as the Cavern in The Vaults. There are no circus acrobats, no bright flashing lights, no amusement rides. In fact, the stage is nearly bare, and Molly Beth Morossa appears wearing only a plain, though filthy, petticoat, with a pocket full of black feathers.

Young Poppy begins by telling the story of how she and Virginia came to meet Edward: The Laudanum sisters, as they would later be known, were living barefoot under a bridge, fighting over a corpse’s shoes when they were happened upon by carnival showman, Edward B. Friday. He resolved their squabble by finding a second shoed corpse, and from then on, they became a sort of family – “bound together with love and hate and need and spite. Like a real family.”

Poppy’s child-like excitement for Edward’s bloody carnival is infectious, and even as she describes the most gruesome acts, the audience is rooting for her dream of one day taking to the stage herself. The story is macabre in the extreme, but Morossa’s comic timing is enduring: even in moments where it seems the play has taken a nose-dive in to an inescapable tragedy, she wrenches a convulsive laugh from the audience. Not to sell her short though, she also creates moments of tenderness, and at one point, of genuinely terrifying menace. It is no surprise that Morossa is actor, writer and director all rolled in to one – it would take that kind of investment in a part to deliver that kind of performance.

There is no excess in this production – every element is used sparingly and to great effect: the set consists only of a frame draped in black cloth and a string of fairy lights; there are occasional snippets of carnival music but the soundtrack’s main feature is an intermittent children’s story-style narrator. This sometimes acts as relief for the almost too-gory details, and sometimes adds to the horror with its unflinching tone. Lighting is equally simple yet effective – long shadows dancing either side of Morossa on the old brick tunnel walls serve as a strange, ghost-like chorus.

The bare brick walls, and trains thumping rhythmically overhead come with the space, but seem particularly apt for this spine-chilling story; it feels almost like an immersive experience. In fact, I would go so far as to say it would be near impossible to reconstruct this atmosphere in a more traditional theatre set-up. This is just the kind of gem of a production you always hope to find at a fringe festival – Morossa and co-creator Celyn Ebenezer have achieved something that the West End, with all its high production value, would be hard-pushed to create.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

 

Vault Festival 2019

Carnival of Crows

Part of VAULT Festival 2019

 

 

 

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