An actress alone on chaise reminiscing about her life suddenly becomes much more interesting at a pivotal point in the show where the penny drops as to what is going on. We meet Emily, an actress in her later years, getting ready to go to an audition for a part that has just become available because another actress has died, for which she is gleefully very sorry of course. She is star of stage and screen, starting out at Blackpool but quickly destined for the West End, then Broadway, then Hollywood. Her stories are elaborate and lovely until suddenly we are invited into hear about her life more intimately and then everything changes, as she recounts parts of her childhood and how she left home to change from Charlotte into Emily, who she holds as different personas. Here the story gets deeper and more intimate and real, including a description of a sexual assault that affects her for the rest of her life, and is acted with an authentic mixture of shame, betrayal and hindsight awareness.
A lovely little show; very funny, thought-provoking and well recommended
This is written in a really interesting way and acted with realism and genuineness. The piece also has some interesting things to say about both acting and the actors’ life: “when did it become a career instead of a calling”, and about growing older: “no-one sees you when you’re old – they just see an old person”. The parts get smaller and thinner as actors get older, they don’t want to take yet another part about dementia but of course they will because that’s all that’s being written these days. This is a lovely little show, very funny and thought provoking, and well recommended.
