REVIEW: Myra's Story at New Theatre
Fionna Hewitt-Twamley received a standing ovation at the New Theatre last night (Sunday 16 February) after a spellbinding performance in the remarkable one-woman play, Myra's Story.
The acclaim was well-deserved - she had taken us on a journey through Myra's life. And what a life - from the joyful highs of love, friendship, sex, and laughter, to the heartbreaking lows of illness, death, loss, and addiction, leading to homelessness.
We are all affected by these, directly or indirectly, of course. But for Myra (and many like her), those low points have a devastating impact, and she eventually finds herself with nowhere to live, begging on the streets of Dublin.
The play is a fast-paced monologue, in which Myra (an absolutely stunning performance by Hewitt-Twamley) shares her life story to explain how she got here.
There were the years in care after the death of her mother, marriage to a Bob Dylan wannabe, the joys and stresses of motherhood, and the family curse - alcoholism. It all takes place against the backdrop of poverty in Dublin in the 1960s and '70s and the shadow of 'The Troubles' north of the border.
But this is not a gloomy play - there are far more laughs than tears, as we meet a colourful cast of characters, who all helped shape Myra's life. There's Big Bridie, Tina the Tap, Jimmy the Tadpole, Gorgeous Andy, not to mention Christy, the human gorilla, and Norris the Gnome.
Fionna Hewitt-Twamley brings all these and others to life with a spellbinding performance that draws the audience in and has them in the palm of her shaking, alcoholic hand.
At first, I thought the other voices were coming from other actors off-stage, but they are all hers - women, men, even a gnome, she portrays them all convincingly.
The humour is sometimes cruel - Myra and her friend ridicule Christy for his medical condition and his wife for her squint. But it seems authentic for Myra and her environment.
And after all, laughter is the medicine that gets them through the traumas. Until stronger 'medicine' is needed - the alcohol, which ultimately leads her to a life on the streets.
It's a very Irish play, and yet the themes are universal and relatable. After success in the West End and Edinburgh, it's now touring the UK and Ireland. And in each town, it adopts a charity helping homeless people.
For its one-night stop in Cardiff, the charity was Huggard, which runs Wales’s leading homeless centre and has been helping people out of homelessness for more than 35 years. You can find out more about its work here.
It's a shame its visit to Wales was so brief. This is a powerful and moving play, which deserves a wider audience.
Written and directed by Brian Foster and produced by him with Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Myra's Story was at the New Theatre for one night, as part of a tour of the UK and Ireland. The next performance is at Malvern on 26 February, then Birmingham on 1 March, and York on 3 March. You'll find more details on the play's Facebook page here.
Review by Andy Weltch
We received free tickets for this performance in exchange for an honest review
댓글