“Kate Tulloch performed with a viscerality that demanded not only our attention, but our hearts”
Howard Barker is not an easy playwright to master. A master of eloquence and wit, with a cutting use of profanity that would make a stripper blush, it is easy for his language to overtake the performance, leaving the audience left in a syntactical labyrinth. For The Castle, however, this was certainly not the case, The complex and broken language was treated with simplicity and emotion, resulting in a fascinating and engaging piece.
Performances were largely phenomenal and casting of the larger roles seemed fitting, with a few exceptions. For a linguistically challenging playwright like Barker, vocal training and projection is elemental in successfully getting across the story. For some of the actors, the vastness of the space combined with a naturalistic performance style sometimes proved challenging and some sections of text were lost entirely. Yet the importance of vocal performance was evident in those that were most engaging; Kate Tulloch and Anthony Cozens.
As the male lead, with huge passages of text, Anthony Cozens handled the character of Stucley phenomenally, with elements of a more versatile David Tennant. The performance of Kate Tulloch as Skinner was a stunning experience to witness. With a physicality that took over the stage, she performed with a viscerality that demanded not only our attention, but our hearts; pulling the audience along her narrative trajectory with a bold and daring force with which no one can argue.
The set is largely symbolic, built around the performance space, this suitability brought the piece an additional layer of realism, building upon rather than altering the theatre. A similar enhancement was utilised with tech, feeling almost as if the audio could have solely been an amplification of the echoes of the theatre’s lofty ceilings. Costume and props, for me, were a questionable aspect of the performance, as their simplicity seemed to attempt naturalism and failed miserably, a little like a school nativity. A more symbolic use of colour or material may have better suited the slick performances and text.
The Castle at The Space is a beautifully constructed production, delivering a complex narrative and text spectacularly, I absolutely recommend this production for those less familiar with Barker’s work. Standout performances matched with Adam Hemming’s accessible and streamlined direction makes this production a credit to the entire team.
“Roisin Brehony as starry-eyed Mandy was a true comedienne, stealing the show with her fantasy wedding ceremony to Elvis”
Patricia Burke Brogan’s insightful debut play Eclipsed from 1992 exposes the Magdalene convent laundries of Ireland. These penitentiary workhouses were where many unmarried mothers were forced into confinement either by the church or by their very own families, punished for having had a child out of wedlock – a child that many of the women never saw again.
Now, 25 years on since the original production, up and coming theatre company, FilthyCOW, have brought Brogan’s play, which was based on her own experiences as a young nun, back to the London stage, performing appropriately at The Space – a converted church. Filled with heartbreak and desperation, FilthyCOW enthusiastically portray the lengths in which these women would go to keep their sanity, whilst society gradually forgot about them. Dreaming of escape and being reunited with their children.
Transported back to 1963, we meet Brigit (Danielle Brook Weir), and the rest of the young women that are trapped under the strict regiment of the Mother Superior Victoria (Maryrose Swarbrick).
Brigit is the fiery ringleader, fuelled with anger and determination to see her child. Sickly Cathy (Francesca Swarbrick) similarly lives to see her children again, attempting valiantly to escape numerous times. Mandy (Roisin Brehony) dreams of the day she can marry her one true love, Elvis Presley, whilst Nellie-Nora (Clementine Webb) seemingly accepts her fate, more focused on rummaging through the pockets of laundered clothes for cigarette butts to smoke. It is young Juliet (Ellamae Cieslik), fresh from the orphanage and fearful of the outside world, who completes the motley crew of unwanted women.
Sister Virginia (Rosie Orchison) oversees the work within the laundry, but perpetually fights her inner turmoil between abiding the decree of the church and feeling remorseful towards the way the female inmates are treated.
Danielle Brook Weir stood out as the brassy, mischievous Bridget, subtly balancing her joker of the pack foolery, with her raw, maternal suffering. Meanwhile, Roisin Brehony as starry-eyed Mandy was a true comedienne, stealing the show with her fantasy wedding ceremony to Elvis, in polystyrene mannequin form.
Maryrose Swarbrick somewhat lacked the sinister nature that Mother Victoria needed for her to be feared by the likes of Sister Virginia, which added to the overall sense that the whole production was missing the grittiness to portray the severe abuse that these women would have undoubtedly received at the Magdalene Laundries. However, I have a feeling that this was more a downfall of the play itself rather than the actor’s performances.
Director Claire Sharpe used her musical talents to help uplift Eclipsed with melodic interludes of acapella singing. With a mixture of pious hymns and foot stomping jukebox hits, Sharpe utilised the strong singing ability of her actors to accentuate the conflicting nature of the oppressive old world being defied by the uprising of 1960’s popular culture.
It is understandable why FilthyCOW wanted to revitalise this play, as it historically draws upon the lack of control women have had over their bodies, a problem that is still an issue to this day, in certain demographics of the world. However, Patricia Burke Brogan’s play sadly lacked the full depth in tackling this issue in the way the company were hoping to, no matter how much élan the cast’s performance exuded.
