Jack Studio Theatre – 14 – 16 March 2024
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Helen Anker’s enthralling play looks beyond the iconic imagery of that black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and explores the real person beneath the gamine perfection.
Set in Audrey’s Swiss home – a backdrop of a cosy book filled room with an armchair, mannequins displaying gowns from her films, stacked vintage suitcases and a guitar – artefacts from her film career are being auctioned off to raise funds for UNICEF. The guest speaker hasn’t arrived, so Audrey begins talking about her life and career while we wait for his arrival.
Helen Anker’s physical resemblance to Hepburn (they both trained as ballet dancers) and her wonderful grasp of Hepburn’s vocal rhythms and tone add a little magic to her heartfelt performance. Anker’s Audrey swigs wine when she gets nervous, dances gleefully across the room as she shows off her gowns, and fumbles over words when she touches upon memories that are hard to bear. Director Michael Vivian ensures Anker’s physicality is used effectively as she moves around the small stage, dancing, singing and sipping her wine.
With such an interesting and full life, it is hard to stop a 65-minute monologue from becoming a checklist of facts, but Anker’s writing and performance creates the atmosphere of someone gradually relaxing into a public searching through and sharing of their memories and the emotions they evoke. Hepburn’s childhood and survival during WW2 in Holland had an enormous impact on her physical and emotional health, and Anker acknowledges this throughout, as well as her determination to prevent other children suffering leading her to work with UNICEF. Hepburn’s career sems to have been a string of good luck and coincidences landing her amazing roles which she then threw herself into and did her best to cope with any stress involved. Hepburn’s marriages and struggles to have children – with one shocking anecdote about 1960’s Hollywood’s disregard for the safety of actors – are considered candidly, there is juicy gossip about famous actors and directors, and sheer joy talking about her friendship with Givenchy. The essence of Audrey, the troubled but determined woman behind the public façade, is revealed in a natural and affectionate manner that had the audience rapt.
A fascinating and heartwarming exploration of an icon that is unmissable. Helen Anker has created that S’wonderful.
Details of future tour dates available here: https://gilesshentonproductions.co.uk/the-essence-of-audrey