Period poverty, moths, dinosaurs and tomato plants are but a few things that have us hooked in this claustrophobic and uncomfortable piece. In Florida, far away from the dazzling lights of Disneyland and Universal Studios, two women sit in their cells where the lights never go off and people rarely come and visit. Directed by Kathryn Papworth-Smith and devised by the company, this piece shines a light on life on death-row and is based on true events, making it deeply uncomfortable to watch — it is truly engaging, bringing attention to a topic not often discussed on stage.
Price I paid: £0
Where I got the tickets: Through the company
Tickets range from: £12-£15
Theatre: Hope Theatre
Dates: 6th-24th November
Rating: ★★★★
Maggie likes to paint, she loves her husband and she grows tomatoes. Idyllic things — however, beetroot juice serves as her paint, she uses her hair as a brush, her husband never seems to reply to her daily letters and her tomato plant is growing in a garden that she’s not allowed to step into. Maggie is on death row, has been there nearly a year. She’s not had a neighbour in a long while it seems, but that’s just changed.
Francesca McCrohon’s portrayal of Maggie had me on edge – the eye contact she makes wit the audience in her first monologue had myself and the rest of the audience trying to avoid meeting her eye. This was perhaps due to the intimacy of the space ( we may as well have been sharing her 6 ft x 9 ft cell ) or what felt like her desperation to connect with the outside world, but it already gave us an insight into Maggie and her seemingly innocent and optimistic thought process.
This is perhaps opposed by the steeliness of Samantha Pain’s multi role of the new neighbouring prisoner and Maggie’s lawyer and sister. These characters pale in comparison to Maggie, which only enhances the plays raw energy and makes the audience shift in their seats as they watch the mystery as to just what Maggie’s done unfold before them.
The play is split into scenes that are transitioned sometimes with sounds that make the audience wince or jump, supposedly mirroring some of the feelings the women in this position may feel – forever being hook from what they’re focusing on to lay on their bed every hour when a guard comes around to check on them.
Bitter and raw, this piece keeps you engaged as you realise how deprived these women are, how the system fails them on every aspect, be it giving them one sanitary towel a day on their period, punishing them by denying them a shower or even how they have to have their lawyers ( who usually are too busy to want to talk and check on their client’s mental health ) file requests to court for things as simple as books or a mirror.
I can only hope this play finds success on other stages as it has at the aptly named Hope Theatre.
For more information visit the Hope Theatre’s website.
Theatre for Twenty Quid (and less) 