MANCHESTER GIRL. To 29 August.
Edinburgh
MANCHESTER GIRL
by Sue Turner-Cray
Smirnoff Underbelly To 29 August 2004
Tue-Sat 7.25pm
Runs 1hr 20min No interval
TICKETS: 0870 745 3083
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 August
Vibrant playing creates a world in miniature.Bored by living in Leicester, a young woman turns her attention to Piccadilly - Manchester, not London. Through the sweat and exploitation of a model agency (running modelling classes turns out to mean staffing reception and making the boss's tea) self-assertion leads to a photo-shoot and assignments in Japan.
It's here the piece really takes off. Told at home she's not the brains of the family - something that her description of an outfit as "this red, clashy, trouser-suit thingy" would support - the now-Manchester girl veers between the calorie-consuming Doreen, who demands between chocolates she reduce her weight from 115 to 103 pounds, her Peruvian-Japanese boyfriend and shadier characters whose provision of weight-loss drugs are soon followed by sexual demands.
Theatrical elements are simple but decisively used. A swing shows moments of optimism - including a semi-believable one where the "clashy, trouser-suit thingy" wearer decides to go for higher education. A strobe catches the excitement of a photo-session, then recurs more downbeat to show the drug-pusher's sexual assault, out of which Turner-Cray emerges in more sober light, downcast but not giving up.
The script has clunky moments, including some overt expositon such as Stoppard parodied decades ago in The Real Inspector Hound, and a failure to rise expressively to key emotional moments.
Nor does the Latino-Japanese lover quite take identifiable shape between his various moments of love, desire and jealousy.
But things seem spot-on in the fashion world. And apart from moments when sad or reflective moments risk losing force through damped-down vocal expression, Turner-Cray gives an exemplary performance, creating creatures of this milieu in vivid moments.
And catching the central characcter's mix of triumph and struggle. The interplay of high-energy show and serious inner concern during a photo-session, disappointment in love, desperation for a weight-loss fix and sheer overall survival make this woman seem alive and individual behind the smiles and posing.
Performer: Sue Turner-Cray
Director: Jack Fletcher
Lighting: Deborah Constantine
Costume: Anna Yepzemyan, Jennifer Lopez
Dramaturg: Eric Thules
2004-08-21 12:27:47