Presented by 'New To You Theatre', a company championing new writing, and finding new venues to perform in, this was the company's last stop on a short 4-venue local tour.
For those of you who know your Greek, then the title of this play won't be so much of an enigma... coming from 'gymnos' [the same as gymnasium], and meaning naked dancing and sport / physical exercise. [There are also a set of three piano pieces by French composer Erick Satie called 'Gymnopedies' - but the play covers that, so no need for me to do so here]. And, as to why the play is so titled... well, you'll have to go along and find out for yourselves!
Written by Martin Paul Roche, the script is incredibly well written. It is tight, consise, and very relevant. It is also caustic, sharp, and some of the humour will have you belly-laughing, missing the next couple of lines.. whilst other lines are so pithy that they make you stop in your tracks. Classical references and (mis)quotes abound throughout, and although the play starts off in quasi-comedic vein, by the end, you'll have taken a journey with the three actresses of the piece, and are in quasi-Greek tragedy mode.
These three actresses have been asked, via email, to come along to a theatre to audition for a play. The last time these three ladies were in the same room together was 30 years' ago, and it was in the same theatre. They are now waiting for an unknown director to audition them for an unknown play, and none of them know the company or even why there are just the three of them, and no-one else. The last time they were in that theatre, 30 years' ago, they spent 10 weeks rehearsing a play called 'Gymnopedies' which, for reasons that will become clear, was pulled before the first performance, as the producers refused to back it.
What follows is a conversation between these three women, now 30 years older, and as memories come flooding back, so do old wounds and new revelations - but reconciliation and 'closure' could be just around the corner.
The play is also directed by Roche, and I have to admit that during the interval I was convinced I had worked out the ending [I hadn't!]. But that is because the staging ('blocking') of the play was very theatrical. Chairs were facing the audience, with the three actresses trying to fill the stage as much as possible and not be close to each other, whilst facing straight ahead when speaking... it felt like a cunning double-bluff, and this was a play-within-a-play scenario. It wasn't.
However, the three actresses themselves gave sterling performances. These completely disparate characters, all sharing the same secret, worked superbly together. Rachel Harrison's supercilious Joan Dupre, Tracey Rontree's pragmatic Diane, and Stella Hutchinson's 'honest-to-goodness' worm-that-turned Catherine, had me involved right from the first moment, and I was gripped until the end. Their performances were - a few dodgy un-American vowel sounds notwithstanding - sincere, focused, engaging, and together, formidable.
This is certianly a play for today and our #metoo times. Obviously written in the wake of the Weinstein debacle, the play tackles some uncomfortable issues and universal truths, which need to be told. And tell it they do! The play continues at Guide Bridge Theatre until Saturday, so cancel all your plans, and go!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 4.8.22
on - 4.8.22
I agree superb play saw it tonigh
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