This evening The Kings Arms Salford hosted a number of shows, one show in particular grabbed my attention for it's catching title ‘Socially [Un]acceptable’.
The show is described as being raw: it’s aim is to raise awareness of one woman’s experience with sexual assault, and to ask its audience to begin to challenge or question how we see assault in our society. As I entered The Kings Arms studio space I see as little as 12 chairs in rows of four, the performance was to be intimate, which is appropriate for its style of theatre. A pile of clothes to the left of the room, a beer perched on a small table in front of us and an Australian woman walking around in black underwater. This was definitely a fringe show.
As I sat down ready for the show, I admired how much strength and courage Laura Desmond had to stand in her underwear in front of an audience, I also admired that this would not be the only courageous moment throughout this piece. As Desmond began I found her engaging and charming however as the piece continued I didn’t feel like I knew her enough. Her character was a slow-burner and I only found myself thoroughly relating to the character nearer the end of the performance. I can understand why she didn’t open up much about herself as this show is very vulnerable and has a specific message however, I believe for the audience to truly empathise with her we needed that connection and back story more from the start.
As I mentioned this piece has a very strong message to deliver and that message is made loud and clear, however again I struggled to watch the performance at times as I felt it didn’t flow as much as It should have done. I felt Desmond was shouting at the audience, when the situation didn’t lend itself to it. Alongside the raised voice, I found the audience participation to be missed, I would suggest either making the audience your target or allowing the audience to watch, not mixing the two.
Some positives from the performance were the use of costume and vocals. I enjoyed watching as the character dressed herself, seemingly getting ready for the event she was about to attend, and then removed the clothes when the assault was happening. Visually the mixture of unaccompanied singing and getting ready allowed the audience to visualise this character's routine before her night out. Overall I found the performance had the right message, and the story is compelling to listen too however the performance was too loud at times, very boisterous and I felt it missed the mark quite a bit.
Reviewer - Caroline Bleakley
on - 24/7/19
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