Wednesday, December 16, 2020

ORANGES & LEMONS (Coronavirus Theatre Club)***

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIszjjX6Lec

Available until: Unknown

The woman in this monologue seems to be in a state of intoxication. She seems drunk and she talks about drinking. She rambles, sometimes making no sense, other times making perfect sense.

Most people know someone who gets like this when they’re drunk. Though a lot of them are exactly the same when they’re sober.

She’s a very amiable drunk. Sometimes she raises her voice but she seems friendly enough. She’s probably harmless and she’s quite likeable really.

I really like the set. She’s standing in front of a white wall so she could be in custody or perhaps in a hospital – though I am kind of assuming that based on the fact she’s drunk. She might live in a place with a white brick wall. After all, most people get drunk without causing any trouble at all.

Oranges & Lemons isn’t strictly dramatic and the woman isn’t really telling us a story. It’s more like when you’re out somewhere on your own, maybe waiting for a bus or a train, and all you want is to get home but then someone who’s a bit worse for wear decides to sit down next to you and talk at you.

It can be quite unnerving when it happens for real but writer Lucy Nichol and director Charlotte Peters have turned it into a really good and entertaining scene. The character is interesting to listen to and quite funny when she’s safely behind a screen and we have nothing to worry about. A lot of people who would be unnerving in person are great in fiction. Like serial killers.

Larner Wallace-Taylor does a very good job of portraying rambling, likeable drunkenness. She’s animated and she has conviction. Maybe the next time a drunk decides to talk to me, I’ll stop and listen. Or on second thoughts… maybe not.

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