THEATRE REVIEW: The Formidable Lizzie Boone - International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester.

Selina Helliwell’s new one-woman show “The Formidable Lizzie Boone” is a quirky, likeable trip through the inner life of an urban young woman who has personal demons and an addiction to Instagram. Staged by Selina Helliwell Productions, last night’s performance was at International Anthony Burgess Foundation as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.

It did take a little while to catch fire. As Lizzie, Helliwell’s performance was initially charmingly kooky, but not too deep, as she began with her experiences of being bullied in the school playground. Primarily she was talking to the audience, and at times recorded voices of other characters interjected for her to respond to - including the soothing voice of a psychiatrist named Marie (calmly played by Carla Kayani-Lawman.) Lizzie was going through her life story in flashback.

It was when she reached being sixteen, and had an incident where a PE teacher tried to seduce her in a school changing room, that the lighting changed, fear crossed Lizzie’s face, and a new double dynamic was achieved that was sustained until the end of the performance. On the surface, Lizzie bubbled with vivacity and eccentric comedy and far too much vodka with lemonade. Underneath, there was a darker and wobblier inner psyche that manifested in interesting ways. An intriguing development was when Lizzie began systematically seducing married men and sending photos as proof to their wives, in an act of Machiavellian revenge on all of masculine power. Usually in these sorts of stories the woman turns on herself and takes out her insecurities within her own psyche: it’s refreshing to see a female character taking it out on the outer world instead.

Director Hannah Heaton handled the contrasts of the different scenes very effectively, snapping the mood from one state to another, and drawing out the comedy. When Lizzie took up burlesque classes, and gave a full dance to the audience that included a three-quarters striptease, it was handled with the artless joy of a happy little girl performing her first dance recital – and then snapped to the cold disapproval of a controlling and unpleasant boyfriend. The sharp changes in tone did enhance the piece.

Additional male characters were performed via recordings by Rodney Gooden, Adrian Stretton and Christopher Sutcliffe. Lizzie’s best friend Debz was performed with great sassiness via a recording by Mary Taylor.

I’m not quite sure what Helliwell was trying to achieve as a playwright with this piece, beyond giving us a detailed character study. As character studies go, though, it was a good one.

Reviewer - Thalia Terpsichore
on - 24.9.21