Boff Whalley has fashioned a beautifully funny play with music which, every now and then, takes a smart right turn and tears your heart out. Slotted inbetween the one-liners and Victoria Wood-esque passages there are horrifically matter-of-fact descriptions of force feeding and the low life expectancy of front line troops.
The authentically written original music is used to point up the anachronisms, to our eyes, of early 20th century's treatment of women as mere wives, mothers and dogs bodies. A combination of music hall and traditional folk, the a cappella singing drives the narrative forward as well as underlining points.
While the suffragette movement had been started in the previous century it was the horrors of The Great War which finally persuaded the government that women had a much more productive role to play in society. It is, however, to their great shame that originally they granted votes only to the over 30's, property owners and the wives of property owners. In other words, the middle classes.
The author has explained her need to tell this story by relating how a friend came across a cache of letters, photos and press cuttings and she showed her. This sparked her interest and she put pen to paper and Wrong 'Un was born.
Ella Harris, as Annie Wilde, portrays her as, in turn, sharp, fun and intelligent. Looking like Old Mother Riley and sounding as though she had stepped straight out of an old episode of Coronation Street, Harris slips effortlessly from character to character, man to woman and back again.
Wrong 'Un is one of those pieces which should be compulsory viewing for everyone, especially school children.
Wrong 'Un continues its very successful tour in Poole, Havant, Otley and Helmesley
Red Ladder Theatre Company
First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 12/3/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment