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| Belfast Girls.L to R, Phoebe Heath, Eliza Jennings, Isabel Burton, Joanna Richards, Natasha Vickery. Photo. Jordan Best |
“Belfast Girls” by Jaki McCarrick, directed by Jordan Best
for Echo Theatre. At The Q, Queanbeyan, until August 31. Review by PHILLIP MACKENZIE
FIRST, let us consider the script of 'Belfast Girls'.
The story-line concerns the adventures of five young Belfast
women who have joined up to Earl Grey’s Orphan Emigration Scheme to provide
female company for, and therefore a civilising influence on, the excessively male
population of the colony of NSW, and at the same time save the women from a
life of deprivation and depredation in their famine-starved homeland.
The women pass the time on their long voyage, confined to
the one cabin, sharing stories of their individual backgrounds; alliances are
formed and break down, fights are fought and resolved, love blossoms and wilts
and, as Sydney Town comes into sight, an unrealistic optimistic camaraderie is
formed.
End of play.
Now, let us consider the performance of the play directed by
Jordan Best.
The set consists of the interior of what purports to be a
cabin on a nineteenth-century sailing ship – with a drape of sails hovering in
the background and a patch of open deck – surrounded, incidentally, not by a
sturdy, sea-faring timber railing but by a couple of limp strands of rope to
lend it a nautical air.
The cabin is unexpectedly spacious and well-lit for such
accommodations of the time, comfortable and clean to the point of
sterility. There is one obligatory rat
event, one bout of sea-sickness and one raging storm – otherwise the women get
along quite comfortably.
They are played by Phoebe Heath, Eliza Jennings, Isabel
Burton, Joanna Richards and Natasha Vickery.
They are provided with a standard, modest, dull blue/grey
costume over voluminous period petticoats and bloomers, which never changes
throughout the voyage. They have
identical footwear – short boots with zippers up the side, which some even wear
to bed. Really.
What did these people do on this long voyage, other than
tell their stories, talk, squabble, etc.? Did they not eat, sew, embroider,
read, play cards? One might expect, also, that over the length of the voyage,
individual tastes might have resulted in the occasional colourful decoration – a shawl here, a girdle
or a bow there which, incidentally, might have made it easier to differentiate
between the characters.
This problem is accentuated by the uniformity of the actors'
well-represented harsh Belfast brogue, the lack of vocal projection and the
rapidity with which the lines are delivered. Lest this be taken as gratuitous
negative criticism, let me commend the ensemble nature of their corporate
performance; but even this has its downside in that, in behaving 'naturally'
towards each other, their conversations stay within the group, to the exclusion
of the audience.
This would not present a problem were this a film, with the
use of close-ups, cut-aways, etc. but on stage you have to make compromises.
You have to project.
This is a disappointing play, with a disappointing
production lacking in attention to detail by the new Echo Theatre company,
supported by the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council.
Despite the Earl Grey's best charitable intentions for the
Belfast girls, and Council's commitment to the promotion of professional
theatrical opportunities for women, this play is not my cup of tea.