“a clever play that makes us look closely at our attitudes to humanitarian aid abroad”
Imagine a United Kingdom which has become isolated from other countries. A land where violent civil unrest and ensuing poverty has created a humanitarian crisis for the population. This is the scenario that writer Glenda Cooper has taken as the backdrop to her new play “Aid Memoir”, produced by the Duckegg Theatre Company and currently running in the studio space at the Pleasance Theatre.
Set in a former funfair, now refugee camp, near Hull, Martine, played by Remi Fadare, a “UK Action” aid worker from wealthy Kenya, has befriended Chelle, a 17 year old refugee desperate to leave and make a new life. The role of Chelle is undertaken by four actresses, Lucy Blott (who I saw perform the part with both strength and emotional understanding), Ellie Kidd, Jordan Meriel and Katie Bartlett. They eagerly await the visit of a “show business” journalist and a celebrity performer “Lady J” from Kenya to help raise awareness of the need for humanitarian aid. The journalist who arrives is Taz, convincingly played by Sabrina Richmond who has “history” with Martine. Both discuss their reasons for wanting to aid the UK while Chelle plans a new future using the celebrity visitor as a means of escape.
The play runs one hour without an interval and examines the attitudes we have to humanitarian crisis and celebrity fund raisers visiting third world countries, who may be well intentioned but are perceived as patronising. It reflects on TV viewers in Kenya wanting to see doe eyed child victims as desirable aid recipients rather than the angry adults nearby.
The set is simple, a chair and a game of Trivial Pursuit against a black backdrop. Lighting is stark and simple and director Matthew Evans has focused on the clear and sometimes amusing dialogue with natural performances.
This is a clever play that makes us look closely at our attitudes to humanitarian aid abroad. It would however benefit from further development with a more consistent performance of Martine and developing the set further to encourage greater movement, particularly towards the end of the play.
“this piece has the potential to quickly become a powerful, heartbreaking performance”
It is with a heavy heart that I write this review. Aisha deals with a topic area that is horrific. It is a subject area, we tactfully forget or at least I do – underage arranged marriages. Aisha is 14 when she is sold to her distant cousin to marry. Rape, slavery and torture became part of Aisha’s life the moment she was sold. ‘He burnt all my clothes the first week I lived here,’ Aisha discloses to us. He wanted for her to have no possessions of her own, but she often refers to her husband as her ‘possessor’. As you may think, this is far from a willing marriage. Thus, the topic area is heavy. It is frightening and it is heartbreaking. But I felt this play’s attempt to open this Pandora’s box was only satisfactory.
With the right tweaks; changes in direction, characters and at parts the scripts, this piece has the potential to quickly become a powerful, heartbreaking performance. The way this topic deserves to be executed. Aisha needed to take it even further. It needed to become a reflection for us, the audience, we who quietly sit as witnesses to the monstrosities unfolding before our very eyes. At times, in this piece you could see through the actor’s actions. They were at times stiff and lacked intention. However, the intimacy of the Hen and Chickens theatre worked perfectly for the impact this piece aimed to achieve.
With a fantastically detailed set we are transported into this hellish world. We are often left with a sense of helplessness, heartbreak as we intently listen to Laura Adebisi’s heartfelt and emotional monologues. Aisha is Laura’s debut professional Theatre role and this young actress shows much promise. She beautifully and tragically played this abused young girl. Most of the time, I was left in sadness and pain as Laura spoke with such poetic detail about the abuse she had had to endure for three years. This performance was a mammoth task for Laura, she is present at all times and never once did I believe she was anyone else but Aisha. Admittedly, there were moments which needed refining, but I cannot commend enough Laura’s performance in tackling such a complex and difficult character.
Likewise, Sabrina Richmond as Aisha’s mother brought a complex and beautifully tragic performance before our very eyes. I say tragic because of the relationship Aisha and her mother depicted on stage. These moments between them had moments of love, but not the love we often see on stage. This was much more complex because her mom essentially sells Aisha off to her ‘possessor’ in marriage. But, by the end of the piece I could understand why a mother could do this to their daughter; however barbaric it may seem.
Fear could have been pushed further and really impact us, if the character of Aisha’s Husband was better cast. For such a difficult, complex and monstrous character; the performance of Ayo Oyelakin left me with much more to be desired. I could see in his performance that he still felt awkward at playing such a monstrous person. His performance lacked depth, truth and dare I say a human quality. The moment the actor entered on stage, he lacked the presence of a possessor; of a human being capable of committing acts as he has previously been described by Aisha. A massive turn off.
I would also like to celebrate Lloyd Morris and Olivia Valler-Feltham’s performances. Lloyd as Mr. White and Olivia as the Support Worker. On stage we compare Lloyd’s performance to Ayo as the possessor and I feel as though the roles should have been reserved. The subtlety Lloyd brought to his character Mr. White really left me wanting more. In a positive way.
Oliva on the other hand did fantastically well with what she was given and unfortunately it wasn’t much by that of the script. As for what the character represented within this piece I am unsure. What comment was the director making, when the support worker disclosed to Aisha (her client) that she too had been abused by a priest? This was for me an unforgivable sin committed by this piece. This character, in my opinion, was really misused.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only one. Alexander Lincoln’s performance of Dr Valge was satisfactory. It felt like his character was being awkwardly used in an attempt to lift the atmosphere. Unnecessary. My opinion aside, the comedic relief Dr Valge was offering wasn’t the medicine we needed. His part it wasn’t done with the conviction it needed and too many problems arose in my mind with the writing and direction.
Aisha was a difficult piece to watch; regrettably, not only because of the suffering on stage. A play like this needed to make me leave the theatre seriously thinking about Aisha’s story and the 15 million girls a year married as children. Sadly, I didn’t.
