Bread & Roses Theatre, 17 – 27 September. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
2**
Choosing to stage a play about the sisters Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth as your first production is a brave step by Urania. These political radicals and anti-imperialist feminists aren’t the most familiar names on people’s historical radar. When I told my work colleagues what the play was about, the common answer was “Oh yes, weren’t they Irish?”
Urania state in the play text that their aim is to create non-linear and non-narrative theatrical experiences, but I am afraid this production just felt non-theatrical. I have no problem at all with using verbatim text and found footage, but Constance & Eva in its current form is more akin to an overlong multimedia installation in an art gallery rather than a satisfying theatrical experience.
The use of film and sound can add so much to a production, but some of the choices made here were baffling. The director obviously wanted to highlight parallels between the sisters campaigning and activism and what women face in the modern world, but tagging on film of the Palestinian conflict and protest marches at the end felt clumsy and clunky. There seemed to be more thought put into using different technologies than the script – how using cassette tapes to play interviews relates to the sisters’ time or the present is a mystery to me. The staging also did not help. The traverse succeeded in separating the sisters, but also meant that from some seats in the second row of the theatre, whole scenes occurred where you couldn’t see the actor as they spoke sitting on the floor.
Hannah Berry as Eva and Charlotte Gallagher as Constance were committed, but their characterisation was quite blank. Although when I did crane my neck and saw Gallagher’s face as she reacted to Eva’s letters, I saw some emotive expressions, but this was the only time. I am sure that both actors are talented, so why weren’t they allowed to flesh out the characters? Instead, the women remained ciphers. Whether this was a directorial decision by Luke Davies or a collaborative decision, I’m unsure, but it fitted in with the entire feel of the production. These were two passionately committed women, but this show is devoid of passion and fire, and politically toothless. To state in the first scene that the play wants to make clear who these characters are and then just brush quickly over their achievements is a huge missed opportunity. I can understand why the company wanted to concentrate on the letters between the sisters when Constance was imprisoned after the Easter Rising, but these scenes need a lot of work to create dramatic impact. The one time the characters actually touch, which should have been charged with tension and emotion, was a damp squib, as the actors had nothing upon which to build.
Urania’s intention with Constance & Eva is worthy and interesting, but the production needs a complete overhaul to develop into entertainment rather than a dry as dust documentary.