The stage is bare, except for a large round of wooden flooring with a plain wooden dining table chair sat on it. Stage left and right also have the same chair but off to the sides of the Circle. 3 Women come on stage and 1 sits either side, whilst one takes the main chair. Over the course of the next hour and a half, the women swap to take the main chair for about 30 minutes each to tell their story. The setting is stark and so is the storytelling. It’s raw and revealing, and funny, and warm, and so very, very human. There’s nothing fancy to hide behind, there’s no surprise twists or unbelievable claims. A woman running away from her mundane life, a woman helping someone out, a woman dealing with the loss of her husband. The stories do converge at times, for brief moments, as if to show how ordinary people living their lives can have an impact on another person, but never know how much. The tales are all post-war stories, but even to someone of my age, they are immensely relatable, as they deal with base feelings like grief, acceptance, and dependency. The 3 actresses, Laura Hughes, Lucia McAnespie and Katie Tumelty, put on tremendous performances, each unique but each as good as the last. It’s a testament to the writing and acting, as there really is nowhere to hide – literally or figuratively. They inhabit these women, they bring their stories to life and they make these simple stories stay with you long after the curtain has closed.
Dear Arabella runs until 10 Nov at The Lyric Theatre. Tickets and full details can be found here.
“I wrote to her, and poured my heart out to her. She would probably never get it, but it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter at all.”
The Lyric Theatre is delighted to present the world premiere of Marie Jones’ new play with award-winning director Lindsay Posner. Three women, three tales of love, regret and loss, all subtly intertwine to show the significance of a simple act of kindness. Marie Jones, writer of Stones In His Pockets and A Night In November, returns to the Lyric with this poignant piece starring Laura Hughes, Lucia McAnespie and Katie Tumelty.
