Search

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

You're Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy

 
Sam Forbes Review by Sam Forbes 4 Published: 25 Aug 2015 Pleasance Courtyard Show Dates: 22 Aug 2015-29 Aug 2015

Caroline Horton enters laden with suitcases against a pastel French tricolour. She is Christiane, the unique Chrissy of the show’s title. She waits at Gare du Nord, queuing for a ticket to England in the hope of reuniting with Cyril, her fiancé. This proves difficult though – it’s 1945 and European infrastructure is in turmoil. She has to wait. And wait. We wait with her and listen as she tells us her story.

By the time the show’s conclusion arrives – an unsurprising but highly personal denouement – we are well and truly won over by Chrissy and her charms.

She is sent to Staffordshire to learn English – she picks up the language quickly and her monologue is delivered in wonderfully endearing half-fluent half-broken English. She meets Cyril at a tennis club and the pair get engaged the following Christmas in Paris. When war breaks out, Cyril enlists and they are separated for five years. Chrissy tells us of the long years in between, of her determination and how she survived occupied France.

Horton is a lovely performer: Chrissy is endlessly charming and we never tire of her presence. Mostly, this is because Horton does not always paint her in an overly positive light: Chrissy seems difficult, stubborn and, at times, annoyingly blasé to the unfolding horrors of war that surround her. That such personality traits are represented is refreshingly three-dimensional – Horton does not deify her character and the piece is all the better for it.

We never really learn anything about the other characters that populate Chrissy’s story – her family and Cyril are distant; names and fleeting descriptions. It would have been nice to get a deeper sense of them, as it would the problematic juxtaposition of Chrissy’s bourgeois privilege with the increasingly challenging wartime backdrop.

The focus, however, remains resolutely on Chrissy. This is in no way a bad thing though, as Horton devotes 55 minutes to strengthening the relationship between her and us. By the time the show’s conclusion arrives – an unsurprising but highly personal denouement – we are well and truly won over by Chrissy and her charms.

You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy was nominated for an Olivier and performed extensively by Horton on tour. That it remains powerfully entertaining show is a testament to its craft and love.

Related to this article:

Location:

Performances

The Blurb:

January 1945, Paris is liberated. Christiane, an eccentric and acutely myopic Parisian waits for a ticket to England to be reunited with her fiancé. Whilst she waits, this gloriously irrepressible Mademoiselle recounts the extraordinary story of her love affair with Cyril, a tongue-tied teacher from Staffordshire. A tender, comic and poignant portrayal of one woman's experience of love and war. Best Solo Performer, the Stage Awards. Olivier Award nomination, 2010. Commissioned by China Plate, Warwick Arts Centre and mac birmingham.