Five years ago I attended the very first 'Fight Like A Girl' at Salford's King's Arms pub theatre. The company are now producing their fourth series of short plays, and again, donating all their profits to Cancer Research.
Created, curated, and brainchilded by Roo Pilkington, his inspiration for these events being both his aunt and his best friend fighting for their lives due to cancer (hence the title), the evening took the same format as previously. Pilkington acting as compere, in his own self-deprecating humour, and the large cast performing 9 short plays to the capacity audience this evening.
The evening started with a short play called 'Trapped' (director Carmen Dooley / writer Barry Wood) which set the tone of the evening superbly. An off-beat comedy piece about two actresses suddenly coming to the realisation that they were indeed actresses on stage. A clever ending making this piece stand out. The evening finished with another off-beat comedy, 'New Till Etiquette' (director Michelle Victoria Riley / writer Roo Pilkington) which had a busy-body shopper (Maria O'Hare) deliver an almost monologue about her idea of queueing at supermarket tills.
In between these we had tragedy, drama, and of course more comedy, and the mix of pieces and variety of styles nicely placed. there was something for everyone in here. My personal favourites of the evening however were, from the first act: 'Face The Music And Dance' (director Prue Griffiths / writer Paul Daley) which starred Julie Root talking to Lynne Whittaker about her kinky and active sex life as a pensioner, and becoming something of a local celebrity after her lover died mid sex-throes; and 'On Whitby Cliffs' (director Julie Broadbent / writer Jonathan Hall), which was a serious dramatic piece as a man (Chris Noone) and a woman (Ruth Berkoff) whose meeting on a cliff at Whitby was not as coincidental as it first appeared. A beautifully nuanced piece of writing which was handled with skill, Berkoff especially impressing.
In the second act it was a pre-recorded monologue played on a screen to the rear of the stage which brought a lump to all our throats. Tania Sparkes was hoping to be able to perform her own piece, 'Pay Attention To Me' live on stage this evening, but Tania is the aforementioned best friend of Roo Pilkington, and as she continues her fight, she had to go back into hospital and so could not perform live. Fortunately. the director, again, Pilkington, had the foresight to record her performance for us. Poignant, and heartfelt, it was the most real of the evening,. as she spoke about her cancer, her treatment, but more importantly the social effect that cancer has on her, as her generation live their lives through social media, and since she is unable to post anything upbeat, she finds herself alone, and yet she craves that connection, that online validation.
With over 20 performers, 9 writers and 9 directors, it would be impossible to mention all, but all have given their time and their talent for this most charitable event, and all deserve huge credit for providing an evening of diverse and enjoyable new writing, and raising money for research into trying to stop the UK's number 1 killer.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 23.11.23
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