SINGLE WHITE FEMALE AT THE ARTS THEATRE
Photography by Chris Bishop -Lisa Faulkner and Kym Marsh
This is a horror show – but subtle. Allie, advertises for a lodger, describing herself as a "Single, white female". You know from the opening lines you don’t trust the lodger . Allie thinks she is perfect but you wouldn’t let that woman make a cup of tea for you..But wow, she is clever. She finds the fissures in all the other characters’ relationships and takes a hammer and chisel to them till she has cracked them asunder.
This is a bravura performance by Kym Marsh as Hedy the flat-sharer from Hell. She is snake-like –a female Iago. The havoc she wreaks is of Shakespearian proportions. Hedy is on everyone’s side. She is everyone’s friend. Until she isn’t.
Wittily adapted by Rebecca Reid and based on the 1992 film, Single White Female is the story of a single mum with a teenage daughter who advertises for someone to share her flat and help pay the bills. The opening scene has plenty of great lines and laughs but then the drama becomes more and more sinister. We didn’t have social media in 1992. But we do now so when Horrid Hedy wants to impersonate Allie and poison her relationships, it’s SO much easier.
At first Allie, played adroitly by Lisa Faulkner, thinks she has found the perfect companion: helpful, confiding, supportive. But behind Allie’s back -when Allie is away at work, Hedy encourages Allie’s 15-year-old, Bella to bunk off school and go to a party she has promised her mother she will not go to. Excellent performance by Amy Snudden as young Bella, capturing at different times, teenage angst, anger and delight.
Twisted Hedi makes trouble between Allie and her daughter, between Allie and her ex-husband Sam, Bella’s father, and between Allie and her work colleague, Graham. Strong performances here from John McGarrity as Sam and Andro as Graham. Hedy is pure poison. Poisonous as anyone in Jacobean drama.
By the end of this play no one trusts anyone.. Directed by Gordon Greenberg, with some alarming effects of light and sound, (Jason Taylor and Max Pappenheim) this is a fast-paced show. It’s edge of seat stuff. The audience held its breath. With a comfortable modern set by designer Morgan Large it feels terrifyingly real. A great night at the theatre.
Single White Female is at Cambridge Arts Theatre until Saturday, March 14. It is then touring taking in Peterborough New Theatre April 7-11 and Milton Keynes Theatre from April 21 to 25. Cambridge Arts Theatre tickets from 01223 503333 or www.artstheatre.co.uk Age guidance 15+ Also see: www.swfonstage.com
