PUTTING A FACE ON (Old Vic)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcpaHs-edY0 

Available until: Unknown

Putting a Face On is a really sad and moving monologue, but I think it is also a hopeful and inspiring monologue. It’s also a really important monologue because it draws your attention to a lot of things which people don’t realise. I know that’s a bit vague, but I don’t want to give anything away.

It’s about a woman who is in a relationship that isn’t right for her, but she tries to convince herself it is right. She doesn’t think she’ll find anyone better and she doesn’t want to be single. It’s very sad that so many people feel this way and not just women either. I am worried that I will never get a boyfriend - I would like to be loved - but at the moment, I really do believe it’s better to be single than to be with the wrong person. I really hope I’ll always believe that, but maybe it’s easier to believe that when you’re only fifteen and you’ve got your parents and your siblings with you.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean, who is the writer and director, has divided the monologue into three sections. Each section is based around a lockdown. All you see is the character on her own, but you do get a sense of time passing and attitudes changing with each lockdown. The monologue is really clever because a lot of things are under the surface. The title is really clever too.

Susan Wokoma performs the monologue really brilliantly. She’s really lovely and quite funny too and I think it’s really important to show that people who are unhappy can still laugh and make jokes. It doesn’t mean the unhappiness isn’t real or even that it goes away when you’re laughing. It just means things like a sense of humour don’t always go away. Ms Wokoma is also really good at the serious parts of the monologue. It is a really powerful performance with lots of meaning.

It is a really good monologue and a really important monologue, but I would also like to see a similar monologue where a woman is making a man very unhappy. That’s something else which can happen, but some people don’t think it’s possible because they think a man should be able to handle his own problems.