ECHOES
Echoes
This new play by former Fringe First winner Henry Naylor contrasts the plight of two different women who find themselves colonised by their circumstances and tied to their plights through laws and restrictions despite being separated by a one hundred and seventy-five year time frame. The two-handed drama is intense and clear in its aims from the outset and the two characters, both seventeen and both hailing from Ispwich, Tillie ( Felicity Houlbrooke) the Victorian who is sent to India as some form of breeding machine to help build the empire and Samira (Filipa Bragança) who is recruited to become the wife of a fighter for the Islamic caliphate both start out as idealists looking for escape but instead only discover horrors and feel even more imprisoned than they did previously.
Their various observations, thoughts and fears are acted out alongside each other and although their personal circumstances are radically different it transpires as they find themselves enmeshed in situations where men make all the decisions , have all the freedoms and mete out any form of justice they consider to be right in their eyes that women have really not come very far in certain cultures.
This is an extremely intense and rewarding work which focuses on the parallels of two different women’s lives and whilst many will find Tillie’s experiences difficult to comprehend because of the Victorian values she espouses others will find Samira’s cultural differences just as hard to fathom. It is a play of complex emotions and the perfectly nuanced performances lend it depth and intelligence.
Echoes is on at The Gilded Balloon daily at 5.30pm until August 31st
*****
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