Writer: Rosalie Minnitt
Directors: Tristan Robinson and Alison Middleton
Winner of the Luke Rollason Memorial Memorial Bursary 2023
This fast-paced, high-energy comedy show is a cultural explosion that rips apart the mythologies of the romantic genre established by Jane Austen. Following in the wake of Pride and Prejudice and Bridgerton, Rosalie Minnitt creates a period costume drama quest that calls on many eras for cultural references. A messy multi-media explosion, this is a one woman whirlwind performance highlighting the ludicrous expectations put upon women throughout generations.
As Lady Clementine approaches her 27th birthday she is put in the awkward position of finding a husband or else she will be carted off to an asylum. However, Lady Clementine doesn’t have a track record for being lucky in love. Her latest object of affection, Sir Bradley has gone quiet and/or missing. Writer and performer, Rosalie Minnitt (Clementine) is open about the privilege and entitlement of her protagonist, and yet we still enjoy her ridiculous antics and are perversely rooting for her as she takes on the restrictions of her time. Although, what precise era Clementine is living through is not entirely clear as she seems to defy time itself.
Rosalie Minnitt is a force to be reckoned with. She has a lovely singing voice and performs a number of original songs including a charming ballad during which the audience are encouraged to wave their electric candle provided. Her energy is seemingly boundless and she is a very likeable performer. You can’t help but warm to her and her very often bizarre antics, which include wrapping an audience member in a red flag, requesting the singing of Jerusalem and throwing 65 Sylvania Family rabbits on the floor. With the amount of chaos created on stage it’s a wonder there isn’t a mishap, but that’s all part of the charm of Clementine.
Describing itself as ‘Bridgerton meets The Mighty Boosh’, this show still feels somewhat rough around the edges and in time Rosalie Minnitt will likely refine it further as it seems there is a great deal of potential here. A section where Clementine asks members of her audience to read out letters in the darkness is not very sensitive to differing abilities and creates tension when a member of the audience finds it particularly difficult to make out the handwriting.
A significant issue during this performance is the lighting. Lady Clementine is not always well lit as she flies about the space and there are multiple times the audience is unable to see her face at all. This is unsettling and we feel we are missing out. There is also an issue when the lighting cue is slow and so the audience does not see everything that’s taking place on the screen either. Rosalie Minnitt admits on stage that tech time before the show was very limited. The impact in this case is detrimental. Future performances will hopefully address this issue.
Does this show always make sense? No. Does it demonstrate sensibility towards women living in the past? Not really. But does it expose the nonsense of a genre that has had women trapped in servitude to romantic ideals for generations? Yes, to a certain extent it does, and so it’s hard not to feel affection towards it and Rosalie Minnitt for making it.
Reviewed on the 6th May
