‘When I was a Girl’
“When I was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout” by Sharman Macdonald, directed by Elric Hooper at the Court Two Theatre. From Tuesday, March 8. Running time: 8.15 p.m. to 10.10 p.m. Reviewed by John Farnsworth. It is a bold choice to stage a play as blunt and uncompromising as this one. With language as unrestrained as its portrayal of adolescent sexual explorations, it is unlikely to cater for all tastes. The events which have formed Fiona (Caroline Claver) and the relationship with her mother, Morag (Yvonne Martin), are gradually pieced together as the story weaves back and forth over the years between her teen-age and adult life. It is an experience lived out in drab Glasgow surroundings, simply represented by Tony Geddes’s crude, concrete grey backdrop and beach.
At times in this production Elric Hooper’s direction opts for a more detached interpretation, punctuated by eruptions of emotion. The result is a confident and fluent playing style; but which sometimes understates the vividness of some of the interactions, i What works best are some of the) rows and the suppressed conflicts where a hardness in the characters and j their conditions is revealed. In that respect, Yvonne Martin’s intelligent playing is sharpened in the well keyed disputes with Caroline Claver’s daughter.! The same effect is evident in the unease generated between Claver and Stephen Lovatt, as Fiona’s lover. Caroline Claver’s Fiona is a demanding role and, with all the switches of age and circumstances, she is excellent and believable
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Press, 9 March 1988, Page 8
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256‘When I was a Girl’ Press, 9 March 1988, Page 8
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