GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY - at the Guildhall
What does the term ‘Ladies Night’ conjure up in your mind? Some throwback club night where women were allowed into men-only spaces? In AKRO’s latest production the term takes on a sinister turn in a short (45 minutes) but intensely powerful piece of theatre. The venue for the play written by Aisling Towl could not have been more appropriate; ‘In situ’ drama at its best. We were in the old courtroom in the Guildhall which still has its forbidding legal furniture of docks, jury seating and judges’ bench.
The title ‘Gentlemen of the Jury’ gives some of the game away. We are in a courtroom drama but not one of Agatha Christie or W.S. Gilbert. Yes, the sweltering heat of the Cambridge evening gave the venue something of a ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ setting (much fan waving) but we were much more in the world of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. It’s a world of a near future (or maybe present in some countries) where women have no say over their bodies; in the world of this play (and maybe the real world) that is the province of men.
Four women – Eve, Mary, Adah and Mimi have come to plead – not for a crime, not for their lives but for the right to have an abortion. We hear each of their cases but only one of the women can be granted that right – and only by the eponymous gentlemen on the jury.
The world we are in is also a religious one – God, a Christian God has to be appeased, sin seems exclusively to apply to women. Whose case will succeed?
Towl’s prose is succinct, sometimes veiled but also imbibed with deep truths. Each of the four women has a story to tell and like all effective plays, the audience must work hard at making judgements about these all-too-real people. The ‘hearing’ is presided over by ‘the officer’ -some kind of official whose job it is to extract from each of ‘the ladies’ their best case for aborting their foetus. Nic Rayment played this role well – sometimes unnervingly matey with the women, and at others reminding them of the seriousness of their case. Like each of the five characters, Towl has packed in a lot of subtext making for a thoroughly satisfying experience.
The four women were beautifully played – each with their own very distinctive manner and level of vulnerability or strength (or both). Katie Gathercole caught Eve’s terrified persona with convincing power. By contrast Dounia El Barhdadi’s Adah was full of fury and angst. Jenny Scudamore cut a tragic figure as Mary, the worn-out mum and wife whose loveless marriage was compounded by a deep betrayal. Lastly, Harriet Haylock put in a wonderful performance as Mimi, the emotionally battered street walker, feisty but damaged. As the officer called each in turn, we heard their thoroughly convincing stories – but we also caught glimpses of their turbulent inner worlds: lighting changes and dramatic movement would suddenly punctuate the storytelling creating a raw sense of emotional power.
The short play directed very ably by Olivia Krauze had pace, dynamic movement and utterly plausible theatrical flow. The space was so well used giving the whole piece a real sense of visual excitement. There was just one moment – the counting of the jury’s decisions – where the motor of the play stalled a bit, but this was a first night and I am sure changes can be made.
AKRO Theatre is to be heartily congratulated for presenting such a challenging, thought-provoking and well drilled play; not a ‘Ladies Night’ but a night for all theatre lovers.
Photo Credit: Paul Ashley
