By Amelia Oprean
February 20 2020, 15.35
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TALK PROPA focuses on the difficulties of being a northern woman in the performing arts and the world of acting.
It is well done and director Caitlin Evans has made the play, which finished its run at The VAULT Festival last week, an enjoyably interactive experience.
It was an opportunity for northern women to let themselves be heard a community feeling developed between the northerners in the audience.
As people made their way to their seats before the plays started, two actresses spoke to people, separated the northerners and southerners on sides, and even had the front row of seats ‘reserved for northerners’.
In one scene two members of the audience were asked to sit amongst the two cast members and talk about being discriminated against for having a northern accent.
There were other moments that highlighted the sense of shared experience within the play, such as making gravy where some members of the audience were given granules.
As an southerner, I felt like the point of being made to shut up and listen to what these northern women had to say was very pronounced, and I almost felt inferior to them.
After talking to director Caitlin, I realised this is the play’s intended affect on southern audiences. They are forced to sit and listen to what the northern voices have to say.
I went to see Red Palace, an immersive folk-cabaret, in the same space recently and I found it fascinating how the set-up was completely transformed to suit this performance.
Tickets for shows in the Vaults Festival are around £12, all at affordable prices for the amazing quality of theatre that is being shown.
The Vaults Festival runs until March 22, and features hundreds of performances including cabaret, comedy and much more.
Find performances and tickets at vaultfestival.com.
