Written by Jaki
McCarrick
Directed by Jordan
Best
Echo Theatre
production
The Q Theatre,
Queanbeyan to 31 August
Reviewed by Len Power
24 August 2019
‘Belfast Girls’ is the first play to be performed by Echo, a
new professional company in the Canberra/Queanbeyan region. Under artistic director, Jordan Best, Echo
plans to shine a spotlight on female playwrights.
The author of the play, Jaki McCarrick, was born in London
of Irish parents. She moved back to
Ireland at age 12. Initially trained as
an actor, she has gone on to a successful writing career with the plays ‘Leopoldville’,
‘The Naturalists’ and ‘Belfast Girls’.
‘Belfast Girls’ is the story of five women who make the
journey by ship to Australia under the Orphan Emigration Scheme. Between the years 1848 and 1851, over four
thousand Irish females took passage on ships from Ireland to Australia under this
Government scheme. While the voyage gave
the travellers hope for a fresh start and a better life, the reality was that
many found prejudice and hardship that was little different to their life in
Ireland. The scheme was abandoned by
1852.
The play shows the experiences of five young women thrown
together in close quarters during the long voyage to Australia. Past hardships and experiences and their
personal differences provide the drama for these characters’ lives as the
journey progresses.
The five actors give very committed performances. Unfortunately, the strong Irish accents and
the speed of their delivery made it difficult to understand what they were
saying. Some of the quieter speeches
were lost because of a lack of projection.
As a result, trying to follow the story of the play was quite
difficult. During a storm scene in the
second act, the sound effects were so loud that it was impossible to hear what
the characters were arguing about and why they came to blows.
Depicting the cramped and dark quarters of steerage below
decks on a sailing ship of this era on stage presents obvious
difficulties. The huge ship set designed
by Chris Zuber to fill the large stage of the Q Theatre was impressive-looking
but there was too much open space in the playing area of the women’s cabin to be
realistic. There was also a lack of
atmosphere in the lighting design by Murray Wenham with bright lighting for the
women’s cabin for most of the play.
Director, Jordan Best, has aimed for rawness and realism in
her production but more attention to detail was needed. It was especially difficult to feel any involvement
with the characters and story when it was too hard to hear and understand the
dialogue.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays
and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.