theatre review

Her Yellow Wallpaper

ShadyJane

This imaginative, haunting, and at times darkly comic adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story is an impressionistic portrait of a woman's unravelling sanity. The imprisoned woman narrates her own disintegration, and is accompanied by a chorus of four actresses playing female psyches who represent polite society with its platitudes and stifling conventions. For the woman, these sinister commentators emerge from the bewitching pattern of the yellow wallpaper in her room. Never losing sight of the sanity of the mad woman in the attic, the lead actress gives a subtle and controlled performance. Trusting the power of Gilman's writing, ShadyJane have developed simple, effective staging in which complex streams of thought are impressively supported by atmospheric music and symbolic physicality.

Sweet ECA, 24 - 31 Aug, 1.40pm, £8.00 (£7.00), fpp 200

tw rating: 4/5

published: Sep-2009

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