This show, which will be at Edinburgh Fringe from the 19th - 24th August (2019), promotes itself as a one woman show exploring 'themes of romance, consent, sex, comedy and women'. It also says that the rise of the Me Too movement makes this piece highly relevant. I was intrigued when I was invited along for a preview performance.
I unfortunately must say I was slightly disappointed by the performance. The preview took place at Ram Jam Records, a lovely award winning live music, comedy and theatre venue in Kingston Upon Thames. In fact it is the only pub theatre space in Kingston. It has a wonderful atmosphere with lovely background music playing from the moment I entered, with the soft glow of candle light. It refers to itself as "Kingston's best kept secret", though I'd say maybe it was even London's. I would go so far as to say its one of the nicest pub theatres I've ever been to, seating just 60 people in what it refers to as 'Jazz club style'. I was shocked to find just 8 people were in the audience for this show, one being the director and two being the actresses parents. I decided I shouldn't let this formulate an opinion in my head before the show started, but I wasn't overly impressed after it was over.
The work portrays the real life story that leads to the writer and actress, Julia Bentley, being sexually abused. She says she was desperate to release something that had held her back for so long. I know that this piece was probably exceptionally hard for her not only to write but also to perform. I in no way want to diminish her experiences or how she may have felt at any given time, but I need to look at this objectively as a piece of theatre.
Julia performs the piece perfectly. She displays pain, anger, confusion and lust spliced with comedic moments of joy. She really portrays the conflicting inner most thoughts of a women exceptionally well. Not that I'm overly familiar with these thoughts seeing as I'm a man. The show felt exceptionally disjointed at the start, and I found it hard to follow. It was setting up the situation and character, but it was done in a very confusing way. After a while the show, and Julia, got into the flow and I began to be able to understand the show a lot better. She exposing the sex positive attitude of modern women and stamping all over the term 'slut shaming'. Why cant a woman date multiple men at the same time? "You need to have five men at any one time - one for ever weekday". Different men fulfilling different needs but being just as annoying and complicated as each other.
Julia is currently studying a BA in Acting and Contemporary Theatre at East 15 where she says her passion for writing has been ignited. I'm sure with a little improvement and finding her true voice her writing will massively improve. At the moment though, its very obviously a piece written by someone fairly green in the writing world.
The more I settled in the more I understood what was happening and how things were going. I just think the writing needs some more development. Saying that though, the ending was phenomenal. Its just a shame it could all be that way. The last five minuets or so were full of raw emotion that was exceptionally hard hitting, very moving and brutally honest. I felt her pain, anger and confusion. The girl with the power becomes powerless. Just as you have been beaten by the emotion and left in shock, Bentley askes the question; "When did no become a turn on? No. That's not sexy, right?"
Overall a competent piece, though I feel the writing needs a little more development. An exceptionally poignant work that I feel is coming at a time where women are feeling more empowered to speak out about their experiences. I'm sure this will be one of the most emotionally shocking pieces of theatre at Edinburgh Fringe this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if its one of those pieces people cant help but talk about.
The work portrays the real life story that leads to the writer and actress, Julia Bentley, being sexually abused. She says she was desperate to release something that had held her back for so long. I know that this piece was probably exceptionally hard for her not only to write but also to perform. I in no way want to diminish her experiences or how she may have felt at any given time, but I need to look at this objectively as a piece of theatre.
Julia performs the piece perfectly. She displays pain, anger, confusion and lust spliced with comedic moments of joy. She really portrays the conflicting inner most thoughts of a women exceptionally well. Not that I'm overly familiar with these thoughts seeing as I'm a man. The show felt exceptionally disjointed at the start, and I found it hard to follow. It was setting up the situation and character, but it was done in a very confusing way. After a while the show, and Julia, got into the flow and I began to be able to understand the show a lot better. She exposing the sex positive attitude of modern women and stamping all over the term 'slut shaming'. Why cant a woman date multiple men at the same time? "You need to have five men at any one time - one for ever weekday". Different men fulfilling different needs but being just as annoying and complicated as each other.
Julia is currently studying a BA in Acting and Contemporary Theatre at East 15 where she says her passion for writing has been ignited. I'm sure with a little improvement and finding her true voice her writing will massively improve. At the moment though, its very obviously a piece written by someone fairly green in the writing world.
The more I settled in the more I understood what was happening and how things were going. I just think the writing needs some more development. Saying that though, the ending was phenomenal. Its just a shame it could all be that way. The last five minuets or so were full of raw emotion that was exceptionally hard hitting, very moving and brutally honest. I felt her pain, anger and confusion. The girl with the power becomes powerless. Just as you have been beaten by the emotion and left in shock, Bentley askes the question; "When did no become a turn on? No. That's not sexy, right?"
Overall a competent piece, though I feel the writing needs a little more development. An exceptionally poignant work that I feel is coming at a time where women are feeling more empowered to speak out about their experiences. I'm sure this will be one of the most emotionally shocking pieces of theatre at Edinburgh Fringe this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if its one of those pieces people cant help but talk about.
You can find out more and book tickets for the performances of this show at Edinburgh Fringe, here.
For other 2019 Edinburgh Fringe shows and performances here.
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