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Weaver Hughes Ensemble
Thin Toes
Photo by Karin Angstrom
World Premiere
by Laura Stevens
Directed by Julia Stubbs
Pleasance Theatre Islington
20 Feb – 16 March, 2008
ary Couzen
A review by Tanith Lindon for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Thin Toes at the Pleasance in Islington is the latest production from the Weaver Hughes Ensemble, an international theatre company focused on nurturing new work, and the impressive full-length debut of playwright Laura Stevens. Centring around three female characters over the course of six months, Thin Toes takes an insightful and honest look at the collision of art, eating disorders and exhibitionism. Meg is a has-been artist, struggling to match a fluke success since the start of her career, while her daughter, Andrea, plunges deeper into anorexia. Lucy is Andrea’s friend from college, and the only bridge that joins the mother and daughter and links Andrea to the world of the living.
Entering the space for Thin Toes is like walking into a gallery. Everything is white, with empty frames on the walls and benches on each of the four sides so that the audience completely enclose the action. Three large white boxes sit in the middle, working as a bed, a sofa, a chair, a wall, or spot-lit plinths to separate the actions of one character from the main action.
The intimacy of the space and subject matter makes the experience of watching Thin Toes a very personal one, but the honesty of the writing and natural delivery means that it stops short of feeling voyeuristic. Never do the characters push further than is reasonable. What happens is shocking - appalling at times – but never gratuitously so, and the space is so small that the actresses have no need to raise their voices above natural conversation level.
The performances were breathtaking across the board. Elizabeth Bichard plays Lucy beautifully as a classic English rose: gracious, stoic, a little prudish and naively adoring without becoming irritating. Physically, Bichard immediately sets herself apart from the mother and daughter, more timid in her body language, yet obviously less body-conscious than the others. Facially she is very expressive, and communicates some incredibly genuine emotional transitions: reacting to a brutal jibe in the midst of laughing, or her face crumpling into tears mid-way through a show of strength.
Helen Millar draws out all of the dark power of Andrea: lashing out with loud bravado to cover her insecurities and angrily striding around the stage before she becomes too weak to do so. Physically, she is thin enough to play the role of Andrea believably, and adopts the stiff, hunched stance of someone who is acutely conscious of their shape. Dressed later in a translucent hospital nightdress, Millar sinks her energy levels, effectively becoming a floating ghost.
Director Julia Stubbs implemented excellent sequences of obsessive compulsive movement, with Andrea increasingly highlighted alone on boxes, struggling with her demons. When she begins to try to eat, she cannot relinquish control over herself, following rigidly choreographed steps that lead to a tiny piece of pasta entering her mouth. It is heartbreaking to watch, and very clearly reinforces the fact that eating disorders are a mental illness, not a fad or extreme diet.
Camilla Simpson as Meg treads the ‘matey-mum’ line. She is terrified of being old and unsuccessful, and delivers cutting comments from behind a friendly facade, belittling Lucy’s interest in photography, saying, “taking little pictures isn’t really Art, is it?” Though Meg professes that it is impossible to teach, we see where Andrea has learnt a lot of her ideas and insecurities, as the pair echo one another throughout the play. Simpson performs with confidence and accomplishment, and, as with the Millar and Bichard, she knows her character inside and out.
Laura Stevens’ writing is very tight, with no superfluous dialogue or over-familiar scenes, and director Julia Stubbs’ influence keeps the production pacy. The only criticism I can squeeze out against the production is that Camilla Simpson and Helen Millar were a little too close in age to realistically be mother and daughter, but the actresses established their roles in the relationship onstage so believably that it very quickly stopped being a problem.
Thin Toes is not only excellently performed, designed and directed, it also succeeds in drawing attention to a very real and prevalent issue in the western world without becoming sanctimonious or sensational. A public representation of something that is stigmatised has the propensity to be very liberating, and, given the number of young women and men who suffer from eating disorders, many people will be able to relate to the experiences of one or more of the characters. I would absolutely recommend this production to others, and anticipate a revival in a larger theatre soon.
020 7609 1800
www.pleasance.co.uk
Tues – Sat at 7.45pm, Sun at 5.15pm
£10, £8
Parallel with Eating Disorders Awareness Week (25th February – 2nd March) Thin Toes examines art, exhibitionism and anorexia.
Further information on Eating Disorder Awareness Week: www.b-eat.co.uk
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