The Killing of Sister George

It was an ambitious task to bring this 1960’s sexual revolutionary piece to Taunton. The main theme of the piece is the emotional turmoil June Buckridge (Sister George) a woman hiding her sexuality in the shadows, endures as her cosy life is turned upside down by the BBC and her lover Childe (Alice). One episode caused by circumstance and ratings the other through her bloody mindedness. As always with Thespians the setting of the piece was a perfect replica of a 1960’s living room, all dressings in period and perfect for ‘George’ and Childe’s home. Costumes were all appropriate and assisted the actresses to shape their characters. June or George as she is known by all, following her highly successful career playing the character on radio, was played with the perfect amount of  bombastic and emotional outrage, this is not an easy role and this portrayal was totally believable. Mrs Mercy Croft of the BBC was also expertly crafted; an annoying woman with her own secret yearnings, her demeanour and style again transported us to 60’s with panache. Alice as the actress explains in the programme was very multi-layered and her approach to the part showed this. Madame Xenia was a tad too bonkers to be believable but then in the 60’s who knows what she was up to in her flat downstairs!
This piece had all the ingredients to make perfect theatre but something was missing, I think it was intimacy. The Tacchi Morris as a theatre did not embrace the play; a more intimate setting was required to help the audience engage with the emotion of the piece, we were all just too far away to totally be in the moment but a great piece of theatre acted with style.
 

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