"Hannah and Hanna / The Jewish Wife"

Lace Market Theatre

The Jewish Wife, written by Bertolt Brecht, which is the first part of this double bill and is a one-act play focusing on the issue of a Jewish woman having to tell her German husband that she is planning to leave him to save his career as a first class physician at the clinic he works at.

You can see the hurt in her eyes as she is still so in love with her husband but she is willing to make the sacrifice for his career.

Mandy Hodgson (The Wife) tells the story as she slowly packs her case and makes calls to friends to ensure that her husband is cossetted in her absence. The emotion shows in Mandy's eyes and her voice at times cracks. Even though you know the inevitable is drawing near, you still want her to change her mind.

Daniel Bryant (The Husband) comes in near the end and you really want to shout out that his wife isn't just going for a few weeks. You can imagine Daniel as a doctor as he has that air about him.

Lorna McCullough has directed this play and one of the few directors who can make a minute of silence say more than words can say.

The second half of the double bill is Hannah and Hanna.

It is 1999. Hannah is sixteen. She loves karaoke and her bloke Bullfrog; she hates her home town of Margate and the Kosovan asylum-seekers who have come to live there. Hanna is also sixteen. She loves karaoke and loves Margate and hates her home town of Kosovo.

What soon becomes apparent is that there are real similarities between Hannah's green and pleasant land and Hanna's bombed-out hell of Kosovo. In both, hatred is always bubbling just below the surface. The outlets for the hatred are very different though.

The two girls are eventually brought together through their love of singing and pop music. Kylie Minogue, Steps and Britney Spears have travelled to Kosovo and present a common language. Soon, English Hannah has to make the decision to become an adult and befriend the stateless Hanna or slavishly follow Bullfrog.

Their lives criss cross and one explosive incident one evening changes their opinions of the other forever.

Both plays are very moving and are willing to address serious political and racial issues. The language is, at times, shocking, and it's supposed to be to get the point of this play driven home.

The second play also provides a showcase for two excellent young actresses who give robust but sensitive performances.

Rhiannon Jones (Hannah) is the aggressive one with fire in her eyes. The gradual softening of her character is a delight to watch.

Ellie Searston (Hanna) is the one with fire in her belly. I had to ask Director Wayne Parkin about Ellie as I was so impressed with her Kosovian accent which never faltered once throughout. Only when she changed character and changed voice did I even think that she wasn't South Eastern European.

Both of these young actors really got under the skin of their characters and produced an emotion packed, gritty performance which will get the fire in you ignited, for several reasons.

Directed by Wayne Parkin, this debut is, I imagine, what every first time director could wish for, A whopping success. The direction and the actors made me feel anger at the way that Hanna was treated by Hannah, and then empathy for how Hannah was treated by Bull and his gang. The ending, which I won't reveal is a bit of a shock!

Both performed in the studio upstairs which gives both of these emotive plays that extra something because of the close proximity, you get 100% sight of the emotion given by all four actors.

Both sets are minimal but with the wonderful scripts, who needs sets, but Keith Parkinson has provided just enough in both.

I've said in the past that if you don't notice the soundscape, then that is also a job well done. There's the subtle background sounds and then there's the upfront karaoke scenes in the second play all done with spot on timing by Simon Carter. Hand in hand with the lighting design by Rose Dudley they created a perfect atmosphere for both plays.

Why the upstairs space was not full to see these two plays, which are linked by their subject matter, I don't know because all involved in these presentations deserve to have their talents seen by more than the two thirds full audience. It was good to learn though that Tuesday night was full.

Read the original article here.

The Jewish Wife / Hannah and Hanna, Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham - Review

Double bill shares themes of discrimination and prejudice

The new Lace Market season gets off to a fine start with a double bill of two-handers in the upstairs studio space. They share a common subject matter: the refugee experience. But whereas Brecht’s The Jewish Wife is about someone having to leave her homeland, Hannah and Hanna, the second and longer, is about a refugee’s reception in the destination country.

Amanda Hodgson, as The Wife of the opening play, gives the outstanding performance of the evening, which is saying a lot because the chief interest of each play, the second especially, is the quality of the acting.

Hodgson uses facial expression and superb voice control to convey the nuances and complexity of the emotional turmoil she’s undergoing.

Before The Husband’s return from work she’s packing to flee pre-war Nazi Germany for Amsterdam.

Having a Jewish wife is making it increasingly hard for The Husband to pursue his profession. Her rehearsal of what she’s to tell him before she leaves gradually morphs into a revelatory near monologue.

On his return, it’s clear (in retrospect - Brecht was writing in 1939) that The Husband (an excellent Daniel Bryant) is far too optimistic about the seriousness of the political situation they face.

Hannah and Hanna is over-long, mainly because a plot that starts realistically is spoiled by an increasingly implausible bolt-on extension. In 1990s Margate, Hanna, a sixteen-year-old Kosovan refugee, is initially confronted with hostility from the bigoted Hannah. But the two eventually become friends, after which the plot goes wrong. But, as in the other play, there’s a neat inter-weaving of action and narration.

Lace Market Theatre newcomers Ellie Searston (Hanna), with her accomplished Kosovan accent, and Rhiannon Jones (Hannah), using fluent yoof-speak, both give terrific performances.

Each play lays bare the tragic futility of ethnic prejudice, though the second simplifies the issue.

Read the original article here.

Hannah and Hanna Review @ Lace Market Theatre

On Thursday the 21st I had the pleasure of watching and catching up with Ellie Searston, a member of the cast from the Lace Market’s performance of Hannah and Hanna. It’s safe to say I was completely blown away by the two actresses who played the title characters.

Set against the backdrop of the Kosovan War in 1999, the play shows the general hostility by the English public that occurred when 2,000 Kosovan refugees were given sanctuary in Margate, Kent for a year.

The play is set around two girls, both sixteen with similar interests but from different sides of the tracks. Hannah (Rhiannon Jones) has lived her whole life in Margate and finds the place utterly abysmal. She sees the sudden influx of refugees as an invasion. Especially when she learns that one shares her name and makes it her mission to make her feel unwelcome. However, as time passes, she gets to know the Kosovan Hanna (Ellie Searston) and they bond.

Ellie said: "So many people are oblivious that other individuals are sentient beings. As an actor it’s my job to reveal the truth so that these stories can continue to be passed around."

Despite the play being criticised for "simplifying" issues abroad I felt that the angle it took with the karaoke songs and light hearted cheers break up the heavy narrative , making intimidating topics like politics, that the younger generation may veer away from, more accessible. It should be noted that the original play by John Retallack was written for a much younger adolescent audience.

"People have a tendency to patronise young people. The play isn’t mocking important subjects but rather opening them up for debate for the next generation."

Despite its cheerful tone, it has a dark contrast which showed a critical depiction of the easiness of the Western world compared to the horrors still occurring elsewhere.

We also discussed whether or not the play had a happy ending, which was a controversial point. Although the two girls are reunited, one must still go back home and leave the other, Kosovan Hanna, to fend for herself. At the end of the day Hanna still has to deal with the realities of her life- a war ravaged country and sexual abuse. Her and her family’s futures are unclear with a modern audience perhaps being aware that it would be another eight years until Kosovo gained independence in 2008.

“Experiences have a massive part in the fabric of who you become as a human being… You could have been anyone, you could have been that person in that situation.”

We went on to talk about the notion of history repeating itself as well as the morals the audience should take away from the performance. Me and Ellie both felt the National Front that is depicted in the play had unnerving parallels with Nazi Germany and the recent success of the far right (*cough cough* Trump).

"The best we can do is wake ourselves up to it and be more empathetic as people. Keep telling stories, keep growing and breaking down boundaries. Re-evaluate what you think and pass on the torch to others- especially those who can’t pass it on for themselves."

I was curious about the amount of research she had to do for the part. Apparently she watched many documentaries on he situation at the time, especially people’s own reactions to the conflict. It was also shocking how convincing her accent was, which she researched by listening to a Kosovan baby trying to speak English for five hours. – That’s commitment!

So, what did she think of the progress of the characters? English Hannah is seen to soften and become more tolerant, she comes to appreciate Margate more. Kosovan Hanna can be described as very fragile and resilient at the beginning of the play who reacts  emotionally out of instinct. Her reality is a shock to her and she flies off the handle because her picturesque view of England has come crashing down.

"They both definitely get a reality check."

Ellie went on to say that she felt the director, Wayne Parkin, cast the girls really well. There was an age gap of four years between them; English Hannah is played by a 16 year old whereas Kosovan Hanna is a lot older in real life, which helped develop the mentality of the characters in the play. Kosovan Hanna has to come to grips with constant change which ages her, making her appear older and wiser before her time. Ellie agreed that the harsh reality is that refugees have to grow up faster than other children as they have a lot to come to terms with earlier on in life.

Her advice to anyone interested in pursuing a career in theatre is simple- "Keep telling stories. Keep being human. Do what feeds you and what wakes you up and don’t buy into other people’s expectation of what you should do."

With an amazing vocal range and breath-taking acting, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of Ellie in the future.

Read the original article here.