Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

This play is about the abuse of a young girl in a nameless country at war. Married off, imprisoned and set to a life of child prostitution, Lela tells us her story with an occasional appearance from the men in her horrid life. An urgent and important story that I felt was debased by a gimmicky production.

Lela is played as a sweet little English girl in a pretty frock with a charming regional accent. The stage has a lurid red curtain backdrop, a black leather bench, a swinging cradle chair and her name in neon. The man wears a bright gold suit. They engage with the audience, at one point handing out candy-floss. This is clearly intended to heighten our horror, but it felt more disrespectful to me. There were also long periods of virtual darkness which seemed pointless. The combined effect was to reduce the emotional impact of the story, rather than amplify it as I think is intended. I’m afraid it left me cold.

There’s no denying Katie West’s achievement, on stage for ninety minutes, speaking for most of it. Cordelia Lynn’s writing is good too, but for me neither are served well by Jude Christian’s production. I did however appear to be a bit of a lone voice, so don’t take my word for it!