Weave is being performed at The Royal Court Studio in Liverpool. The seating and aisles are perfect for a one woman show like Weave, as it’s extremely imitate and gave Samantha Alton as Arabella a great opportunity to interact with the audience. ArtsGroupie had provided Weave with some funding to enable to the play to be performed at a larger venue. Margaret Connell directed Weave with an extremely creative flair and did such a wonderful job bringing the story of Arabella to life on the stage. Her direction made great use of the stage as it was utilised to its fullest potential. There was fantastic use of the aisles and the centre of the stage being used to engage with the audience. Additionally, there was so much interaction with Arabella and the audience. They were constantly entertained by her.
Weave was an original concept and story by John Maguire, who handed over to Margaret Connell and Samantha Alton to develop and workshop Weave, to create the one-women show I saw this evening. It’s such a good concept and the dialogue is very witty and full of one-liners throughout. I particularly liked how dialogue conveyed the story of Arabella, the central character in Weave.
Samantha Alton played the role of Arabella with so much warmth, compassion and energy conveying so many layers to her, which we hadn’t discover yet. Samantha displayed the funny side of Arabella, whilst also demonstrating her vulnerable side too. Her stage presence was an absolute joy and pleasure to watch, which was capivating. She was constantly displaying facial expressions, depending on her mood. She had a great way of engaging with the audience through her interaction, talking to the audience and asking questions too.
Weave followed the story of Arabella, whose comic tale of hair extensions, social media issues and her intreactions with her friends. Liverpudlian Arabella was going out in the city centre tonight, with the pure intention of painting the place red and every colour she possibly could! Weave was a dark comedy about Arabella and her possessed hair extensions. Many issues were explored such as body image and social superficiality.
The one-woman show of Arabella was her self discovery as she slowly began to realise that the false personality she portrayed online to impress random strangers, unfortunately only led her to despair, sadness and disappointment and that her real friends were those, who do not judge her through social media. The main theme of Weave is the lengths for people to go to get the perfect picture for Facebook, wearing the latest fashion accessories and clothes. There were other elements covered in Weave such as trust, friendship, image, social media, social issues and media pressure.
Weave was set in Arabella’s bedroom, which comprised of a large double bed, dressing table, a projection screen wall, rail of colourful and outrageous outfits. The set was vibrant and very colourful, which incorporated Arabella’s character incredibly well. I particularly like the projection screen wall, which demonstrated all the messages and pictures that Arabella was posting online and how she saw them too. A great concept having it, as the audience could see all the messsges and images on social media displayed. This was a fantastic visual concept to use and added a sense of realism to the play.
Arabella had several props in her bedroom from her 'rampant rabbit' to leftover pizza. Her costumes were very eye catching and colourful. Additionally, Samantha changed her clothes through the scene transitions with ease and swiftness. There were some great music choices featured in the show, such as a Whitney Houston classic, which was ideal for a one-woman show. The voiceovers during the performance were used incredibly well, which added a sense of reality television to the play.
I would highly recommend anyone going to see Weave as it’s a very funny original story tackling taboo issues such as body image, social media pressure and societal superficality. Weave had everything you would like to see in one-woman show, drama, empathy, comedy, emotions and pathos. For me, Samantha Alton was absolutely brilliant as Arabella and has created an interesting, captivating character.
Reviewer - Mark Cooper
on - 29/11/19
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