Paul T Davies reviews How To Be Brave presented by Dirty Protest Theatre at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
How To Be Brave Summerhall Edinburgh Festival Fringe
9 August 2019
5 Stars
Dirty Protest theatre have forged a strong identity for producing excellent work reflecting contemporary Wales and it's people. How To Be Brave enhances that reputation, with Sian Owen's brilliant play. Katie has gone from being a confident little girl who feared nothing to a single mum who worries about everything, and now lives back with her mum in Newport. On the day that her daughter has an operation to repair her heart, Katie flees throughout the town, unable to face the day.
It's a tremendous performance from Laura Dalgliesh, vividly bringing to life not just every character, but the town itself. As she struggles through mud, nicks a BMX bike and faces people from her past, Katie realises she is going to have to be the bravest she has ever been. Her nemesis, police officer Gemma Tanglethwaite is a wonderful creation, and you will want to cheer Katie through her day. It's worth the entry to find out why her nickname is Iceland and I've Got The Power!
Owen wrote the play for her Mum and Gran, but it's a hymn for women everywhere and a love letter to Newport. Brought to life by the performance, the inventive choreography by Bridie Smith and Catherine Paskell's inventive direction, this is a warm cwtch of a play that had me wiping away tears of laughter and pride. Don't miss it!
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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