The pieces couldn’t be more different; Alice Birch’s play “Revolt. She said. Revolt Again” is a deconstructed examination of the language of sex and gender, while “The Thrill of Love” tells the true story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in England.
The first play, directed by Kate Wyver, felt all too familiar. Guy Woods, playing man, burst into the action with a breathy monologued delivered into a slightly-too-loud microphone. “I want to make a brooch out of your hair” he panted to a visibly uncomfortable Maddie Bowers playing Woman, whilst clambering over the audience. Short exchanges like this: Man – “and I’m peeling your clothes off-“, Woman – “I’m not a potato”, poignantly resonated without losing their comedic punch.
The piece became more dynamic when the roles were inverted. Woman slowly began correcting Man in his language. Instead of “I want to make love to you” it should be “with you”. As the scene progressed Woods began to physically shrink as Bowers’ corrections turned into her own version of his opening speech, but instead of his slimy come-ons she shouted in almost a dissociative frenzy about the fierce power of the vagina. Though perhaps not the most nuanced representation of feminism, the final horrified look on Woods’ face rounded the piece off in somewhat of a triumph.
The second piece, “The Thrill of Love”, directed by Dylan Sutcliffe and Isabelle Fink, sees the boozy, glamorous and dark underbelly of the 1950’s hostess business and the tragic story of Ruth Ellis (played terrifically by Romilly Browne). The slow deterioration of a self-destructive woman who can’t seem to resist her abusive boyfriend is a story familiar to many, yet the line between sympathy and apathy for Ruth was expertly blurred by the directors. What becomes most poignant in this play is not the crime or hanging that made Ellis an infamous icon, but the tragic vulnerability which made her human.
And finally, another element of the play worth a mention was the genius transformation of the far left corner of the stage into a dimly lit speak-easy type bar, complete with singer (Molly Honor) who lulled us into new scenes with melancholic beauty.