Reviews of Taurus, Manchester

Excuse me, I'm trying to please you and you did

A memorable evening. Very cleverly written and excellently performed. Fiona Paul is not only a very talented actor/comedienne but has an incredibly moving voice. Her vocal range and interpretation were exceptional. The transition between the various acutely observed monologues was cleverly made via the chilling menace of a voiced telephone messaging device. Brilliant stuff. A bigger venue for next time?
Thanks

Interesting, intriguing and informative

Overall rating: 4  

Two women sit apart, engrossed in books. The woman on our left, Jemma (who we will discover to be the LongLegs portion of the company), reads from Dannii Minogue's autobiography; on the other side of a flip chart and a coat stand adorned with all manner of wigs and costumes sits Rebecca (the LittleLegs portion) reading from a magazine. All very voyeuristic, so far. Should we be delighting in watching these women read? Should we in turn be reading from our programmes which were kindly kept on our seats? Has the play actually begun yet? While all this is going on, the small basement room of Canal Street's Taurus Bar is filled with Florence + the Machine's 'You've Got the Love', seemingly "stuck on repeat".

Once Florence et al. take their leave of us, the chap from box office comes down to welcome us and introduce the play, and an upbeat number cranks into life. LittleLegs & LongLegs rise and we are treated to the sight of them showering, trying on clothes, posing in front of us and generally getting ready for the play ahead. The Woman has begun.

As is explained during the course of the play, research for it involved speaking to many people about their experiences of, and as, women. LL&LL firstly dramatise their findings through a plethora of short character sketches, beautifully observed and acted. Accents all impeccable to my ears range the length and breadth of the country, with both sexes ably represented. There is a shift to a more presentational style (including flip chart) for episodes dealing with women's issues such as thrush, periods, PMT and child birth the latter of which involving a species of synchronised dramatisation with legs akimbo and much wailing, which is probably not for the faint of heart. The most engaging and moving part of the piece, for me, however, comes towards the end, in a series of three extended monologues based as Jemma explains on emails they received in answer to their call for stories about women. We hear the story of a Liverpudlian woman from Jemma, sitting atop the bar, with an accent which never falters; that of a young Scottish woman from Rebecca with equally wonderful characterisation and accent; and Jemma finishes the triplet with the story of a Londoner. The common theme over the three stories is one of women successfully overcoming adversity of one form or another.

If there is one criticism of the piece, it is that I might have liked some more interaction between the characters. As actors, Jemma and Rebecca work wonderfully together, but the characters tend to be kept separate, only to reveal their personalities and tell their stories in isolation. It would perhaps have been interesting to see fewer characters possibly incorporating many of the personality traits, but keeping fewer names and faces on which to concentrate and to watch their stories develop. However, I don't believe the point of the play is to provide a nice plot for us to follow, but rather to shed some light on the experience of being a woman and to present the multitudinous variety of women we see every day, their 'secrets, flaws & desires', to quote the programme, through the medium of the two actors' marvellous acting skills.

All of this begs the question: Could a similar thing be done for The Man? This remains to be seen, but LL&LL's play is an interesting, intriguing and informative piece of theatre. Overall, a thoroughly wonderful evening's entertainment, and a joyous celebration of The Woman, whoever she may be.

Woman review

Superb performance by the two girls. Loved the personal touches and the humour. Hopefully we will see another performance of Woman next year!Venue was hot and needed fans but apart from that superb with excellent pace.Enjoyed the eclairs!!