DramaReviewScotland

Dead Girl’s Rising – Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys

Writer: Maureen Lennon

Music: Anya Pearson

Lyrics: Anya Pearson & Maureen Lennon

Directors: Ruby Clarke & Alex Mitchell

Dead Girls Rising is a glorious, punk-protest, anger-fuelled, musical examination of women’s real experiences of trying to exist in a patriarchy.

Exploring the depressingly large number of reasons why women come to fear men and women’s inability to live life unafraid: watching what you say, what you wear, where you go, how much you drink. Fearing that breath on the back of your neck, that unexpected hand on your shoulder. The mere fact that you have to be prepared for what might happen to you because “stuff happens everyday.”

It’s all depressingly relatable. As the songs declare; “nothing has happened to me”, “rather her than me”, trying not to become another dead girl. Is that the best we can hope for?

But how do we exorcise these fears? How do you stop your fears consuming you? “What is justice?” they ask, “what is justified?” Is it to take revenge? Is violence the only answer?

Our main protagonists Hannah (Angelina Chudi) and Katie (Helen Reuben) summon The Furies – yes, those Furies, the Roman goddesses of justice (or revenge), not the Irish folk band. Tisiphone (Izzy Neish), Magaera (Zoe West) and Alecto (Rebecca Levy) a fabulously fierce trio of rock goddesses help them navigate a solution, meting out vengeance where it’s required.

We meet the duo at three key times in their lives. Firstly as a pair of schoolgirls gripped by true crime fever. They huddle under the duvet consuming horror movies and true crime podcasts. The pair are also haunted by the spectre of a murdered girl who “went to our school”. It’s all very urban legend. Then as young women negotiating the minefield of finding love in “a time of war”. As Katie beseeches in one song, she’s only looking for a “normal” man not even a “bespoke” one. The fact that he hasn’t murdered his mother, the best she can hope for. We finally meet the pair as mature adults, but both at very different stages of their lives: Hannah now a mother, Katie looking for a solution to her all-consuming fear.

Dead Girls Rising makes no apologies in saying what it does in the way it does – and neither should it. It does hammer home the point but in the best possible way. It is thrillingly alive and utterly thought-provoking. The musicianship is top tier, the script rocks along apace, the characterisations relatable and appealing. The only note of criticism is that the sound balance was a bit off, with the music overwhelming the singing and therefor the all-important lyrics. With the largest percentage of the audience appearing female it would be wonderful if more men saw this – it is essential viewing for those wanting to understand the female experience.

Dead Girls Rising is a gloriously angry and energetic commentary on not only women’s experience in history, but women living in the here and now.

Reviewed on 17 May 2014 continues touring | Image: Grant Archer

The Reviews Hub Score

Gloriously angry and energetic

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The Reviews Hub - Scotland

The Scotland team is under the editorship of Lauren Humphreys. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. We aim to review all professional types of theatre, whether that be Commercial, Repertory or Fringe as well as Comedy, Music, Gigs etc.

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