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A heart-warming piece about homesickness and alienation, 'Don’t Get Me Wrong' would benefit from an effective edit to deliver a more thorough investigation of some troubling themes. Summary
Rating
OK
At the start of Don’t Get Me Wrong two young women chat in the living room of a shared flat, the stage appropriately set with a non-descript sofa and basic dining table. Laura (Kelly Guibal) is French and Giulia (Flavia Di Saverio) Italian, but both now live in London. They talk about the frustration of their days, an unexpected encounter with an ex-boyfriend, and food. There is lots of impassioned talk of food relevant to their countries of birth and a promise to recreate a special dish to make up for a bad day. Laura lapses into French, and whilst I appreciate this serves to emphasise her comfort from and connection with home, as my ability to understand French is limited I swiftly fail to understand what is being said. My partner chuckles occasionally so it is obviously funny and reinforces the exclusion a non-native speaker can feel in the UK. So far it has been an entertaining conversation that centres the characters in the plot, if not ground breaking. And then Laura breaks into song: a device that is used several times throughout the piece, the music lifts the performance. Guibal in particular is a vocally strong and emotive performer.
As they disappear, they are replaced with Mexican Nicté (Thelma Osorio Euan) and British Japanese Alisa (Maria Luc). A similar conversation flows between these two: the frustration of living in shared accommodation, the difficulty Nicté has in finding a job and the impact of that on her visa, and the oddities of London life. She misses her grandmother and is worried that she won’t make it back home for her upcoming birthday celebrations. Once again music is used well to add variation and energy to the performance; this time Nicté energetically demonstrating Mexican routines and Alisa awkwardly and amusingly trying to copy her.
In between scenes we see glimpses of Japanese Sachi (Hana Tamaru) who fails to connect with her flatmates quite so easily and is frustrated by their lack of organisation and untidiness. Throughout this Piano Girl (Arianna Folini) sits quietly in the corner at a keyboard occasionally providing musical accompaniment as needed.
This piece is sweet and heartwarming but too long and plot light, as the central issue of homesickness, mundane and ill paid jobs, and frustration in a foreign land is repeated without resolution. The mix of nationalities is interesting – particularly Alisa, a British Japanese who mourns a country she has never actually lived in – but a lot of the themes feel more relevant to the age of the characters rather than their nationalities. A passing reference is made to the privilege English Alisa has in owning three passports, along with the racially stereotyped reactions each receives, but the conversation moves on quite quickly.
The music is variable: Folini is a jaunty and accomplished musician and Luc surprises us with a talented rendition of a Chopin piece alongside a moving tale of childhood embarrassment at her native roots. However, the chord sequences used are repeated too often and the vocal abilities vary amongst the group. In addition, Folini is underused: it is not obvious as to why she accompanies some of the songs and not others. In the briefest of moments she takes the stage, coquettishly and with humour, to poke fun at the other characters and herself, before retreating to behind the keyboard. More of this would have worked well.
The reality and personal experience at the heart of his piece are undeniable but a more effective delivery would remove the repetition and deliver a more thorough investigation of some troubling themes.
Creatives: Written and directed by Arianna Folini and Hana Tamaru
Don’t Get Me Wrong plays at the Hen & Chicken Theatre until 30th March.
Further information and booking can be found here.
