THEATRE REVIEW: Parallel Lives - Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester.

For two nights only, In Parallel Productions took over Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester with the play, 'Parallel Lives' by American actresses Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy. This play however, is not a conventional one in any way, and in reality is a series of shorts or playlets for two actresses, connected only in the very loose sense of theme running through the whole evening - that of female empowerment.

The play starts with two heavenly bodies who had been tasked with helping to create the Earth, specifically, the humans. In a humorous duologue they decide to give women painful births and men, egos. Dressed in white t-shirts and dungarees, on a stage set with several A-frame step ladders, 2 white chests and little else, it was as if we had time-travelled back into the 1970s. I am old enough to remember when this technique of avant-garde, non-naturalist style theatre was innovative and "hey, wild, man!" Tonight it just felt somewhat contrived and derivative. 

The short plays went through various scenarios - all using only the same two actresses - as they dissected subjects such as womanhood, tampons, periods from a male perspective, young love, sex, prostitution, death, sisterhood, bulimia, homosexuality, pride, childbirth, female representation in Disney films and Shakespeare, Roman Catholicism, wokeness, abortion, relationships, female beauty, beauty regimes, and goodness knows what else, all wrapped in the "I have my own identity" blanket. Some were hilarious, and others were much softer and more reflective: some worked excellently, whilst others seemed a little weaker and underdeveloped; and some truly made you think, or re-think. But performed all together one after the other was too much. We were bored with the approach and the premise after just a few of the short plays, and needed a change, but the change never came. Either that or we needed to find out where these plays were going and be given a tangible connection between them all, but that never came either. 

I enjoyed the Victoria Wood-ness of the two girls discussing West Side Story, and the fun gained from a female shower routine peformed in the style of a silent movie, but overall the whole evening was too static, formulaic, and repetitive to truly engage in the production. That is not to diminish the talent of the three creatives responsible for this production. Both Suzanne Fulton and Stacey Coleman deserve the highest praise. Changing characters, ages and accents throughout with ease, whilst commanding the stage and our attention for such a long time was not an easy ask; but both proved to be engaging actresses who were more than capable, and their characterisations, as well as energy, were spot on every time. The whole was directed by Leni Murphy, who had solidly and clearly directed each vignette with thought and skill. My only thought perhaps was that moving the ladders etc was a tad long-winded at times; and maybe the pace would have picked up a little had there been no need to change the scenes and acted everything on the same tableau. 

Two or three of these short plays would have worked superbly if placed in an evening of short plays {let's say, since this is a Manchester-based outfit.. a J B Shorts}. We would have laughed heartily, enjoyed the commentary, and then moved on to something else. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 26.2.22