Mrs Dalloway: Harlow Playhouse: Wednesday June 10th

WE HAVE really missed productions like this at the Harlow Playhouse.

Kit Green’s Mrs Dalloway was a wonderfully imaginative interpretation of the Virginia Woolf classic.

The story line is: A single day in London, 1923. Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman in her fifties, prepares for the party she’s hosting that evening.

What makes this special is the synthesis between Kit’s portrayal of all the characters and the wonderful staging, with special emphasis on the magnificent visuals.

On so many occasions, we return to Kit. Kit, as well as playing all the characters, engages the audience as Kit. Kit made us all laugh when she said: “This is a story, based six years after an epidemic, with wars in the background and social change at the forefront of everyone’s mind….who can relate to that?”

One minute, we were delighting at the visuals and then so enraptured with Kit’s singing. It reminded us why Kit is an award-wining artiste and why an evening with Kit type showcase must a be a delight.

But at its heart, it takes into the heart of Mrs Dalloway. Into Bloomsbury in 1923. The images of war and post traumatic stress cast a shadow.

Most of all this was so clever, so rich. The background of diary entries, the special video screen and the artmopshere that one actor (and background team) were able to create.

In many ways, this was the type of show that this journalist loved to review at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Deep in the heart of the Pleasance or George Square Theatre.

Finishes tonight (Thursday)

https://playhouseharlow.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873659303