A podcast-recording framing device gives way to a taut, nuanced drama about young women’s naive convictions colliding with the harsh realities of misogyny and violence.Rating
Excellent
Astrid (Octavia Sharman) and Maria (Loresa Leka) leap and high-five down the centre aisle to start the show. We are here for a live recording of their podcast “Tea & Tattle,” aptly named as they take questions from the hybrid audience while gossiping with guests and drinking tea.
There is a lot of love in the room for the cast on this first night, cementing the concept of a live audience for the recording. Guest Gia (Leila Wetton) is introduced, clearly known to the podcasters, and they share memories of university. The conversation has barely begun when Natalia (Camila Hornos) enters as an extra guest to Gia’s evident surprise. For a moment I genuinely wonder whether I’ve misunderstood the format, so total is her shock. Wetton is persuasive: her demeanour changes, she loses her thread, and keeps turning to stare in confusion at Natalia, who has clearly thrown her off guard. Am I actually in the middle of a podcast recording? During the “ad break,” Gia repeatedly asks Maria why Natalia was invited. There is a secret between them: one we’re not privy to. I’m relieved to realise I am in the audience for a play, but to doubt that at all, the acting has to be impressive.
These are young women in their early twenties, moving on from university and trying to establish careers. They care about themselves, their independence, their friends, their politics, the world. And about Natalia, who is engaged to someone they feel is wrong for her. Their debates on God, religion, and the role of women in marriage and the workplace are persuasive, powerful, and important. If naive. They have their lives ahead of them as young, creative women, and they want it to count. As the discussion unfolds, so does the unravelling of their friendship and the gap between belief and lived reality. Inevitably, a damaging secret is revealed by someone who had no business revealing it, and the group falls apart.
The writing is taut and the timing well judged. The characters are asked not only to review their own moral positions but are judged by how they react to one another. The acting is nuanced: each character precisely drawn, and frustrating in exactly the way real people are. Their naivety is maddening but relatable. The first half ends in chaos as they all storm out. In character, the stage manager comes on to ask the audience, politely, to stick around for merchandise.
The set is reconfigured for the second half, and we step back in time to examine the roots of Natalia’s troubling relationship and the moment that set everything in motion. Various men are introduced: most irrelevant. A conclusion is reached: a dreadful aggression re-enacted for all to see.
This is genuinely interesting, thought-provoking theatre: watching the well-meaning, if naive, convictions of young women in their twenties collide with reality, be it childrearing, religion, male violence, or misogyny. Theory is one thing, making change is harder, and watching them grasp that, and what it does to their friendship, is a lesson in itself.
The female performances far outshine the male, and I’m not entirely sure why the character James exists at all. The second half, while necessary, runs too long and needs editing: the themes matter, but not at this length. What does matter is the final exchange between Matt (Daniel Stone) and Natalia, which sets up the denial, the dread, and the incident itself: an act of utter violation, staged with just enough restraint. Horrific and disturbing, as Gia faces the audience with dignity but no power. Extraordinary.
Directed by Maisy Dodd
Written by Leila Wetton & Camila Hornos
Producd by Loresa Leka for Bloomin’ Between
A Woman’s Truth plays at SPID Theatre until Saturday 8 August as part of Camden Fringe.
