The Convent

At the end of this production, as I drove home, I said to my friend, ‘this is a very feminist production, I don’t know that I can review it, it needs to be reviewed by a woman’. She said that I could review it, and then when I sat down to write I reminded myself that this had been directed by a man.

So, I’m going to start with easy bit, set, sound, lighting and music. The set was artistic in its simplicity, a background of white arches in front of which were voluminous sheer white drapes floor to ceiling which could be moved at will (I did worry that they would get stuck), opening up and closed, something that could be used to ‘hide’ behind, used as a prop, very imaginative. Together with illuminated ‘crates’ used for seats or blocks to stand on and a floor strewn with leaves this set was illuminated with care and thought throughout the play. The selection of music had been thoughtfully chosen for the characters and stories they related. I envied the time taken by the director to choose this music, unless of course the script listed music to use, volumes were just right and did not overwhelm the casts dialogue.

So, to the cast, this play revolves around the stories of the seven women and lives and falls on the way they interpret and play their characters. Director Billy Garner had chosen well here. Lorraine Carver gave an impressive performance as Mother Abbess, living a life solely for oneself although we learn at the end that the disruptive Patti played convincingly by Emma Small is her daughter and these two have a thought-provoking head-to-head which was played out convincingly. Tina played by Danielle Shippey has an interesting role telling us about problems with her sex life and problems with psoriasis, which although humorous has a serious side well portrayed. There is one genuine Nun in the play and this is Wilma played by Lizzie Bryant who movingly tells us that she has been unable to pray since her mother’s death. Laura-Jayne Cook has fun as a ‘hippy cult obsessed’ Bertie who struggles to escape from some form of cult eventually declaring her love for Dimlin, Harriet Kember-Whitfield who played a solid dependable Dimlin who always wanted to be prim and proper, this was a really good performance. Making up the seventh ‘nun’ was Natalia Beare as Jill who is escaping the confines of a traditional marriage and relates the woes of this life.

All these character’s stories were told thoughtfully and at times with humour and it would be unfair to nominate one actress as better than the rest as all performances were equal value to the success of the production, to the depth of the storylines and the visualisation of the issues so congratulations all. This was an interesting play and not one that I would have chosen to visit.

Congratulations to director Billy Garner and the Angles Theatre for taking this on.

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