A surprisingly moving hour of theatre,
A thoroughly enjoyable and emotional hour of theatre
Melissa Booth welcomes the audience into the auditorium whilst reading bridal magazines and dancing around to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun in a rather energetic fashion, setting a somewhat conventional and bubbly tone for the beginning of the piece that had me worried we wouldn’t really get to deal with the issues at hand.From there, however, we follow the story of how Melissa and her fiancé first met, the struggles that they have faced in their attempts to reconcile wedding tradition with their own values, family issues and their hopes and fears for the future. Through these moments in a couple's shared journey, we experience some really heart wrenching, beautiful moments that effectively highlight the deeply ingrained attitudes in society towards issues such as race, sexuality and feminism.
The piece, however, could have benefitted from some tightening. There were some transitions between video clips and spoken word that were a little clumsy, and a clearer delineation should have been made between the times Booth spoke into the microphone and the times she stepped to the side to speak to the audience more intimately. Initially this felt like a storytelling tool, but became confused as the piece progressed. The links between Booth and the Dirty Dancing film proved an emotionally powerful and well utilised tool, however linking this in further at the beginning of the piece may help with the overall tightness of the piece.
A thoroughly enjoyable and emotional hour of theatre, Something Borrowed draws you into her world with charm and bubbly-ness that makes you wish her and her fiancé all the best for the future (but hopefully with enough real life for another show!)
