REVIEW: Galvanise, Vault Festival London ✭✭✭

Mark Ludmon reviews Helena Westerman's play Galvanise now playing at the Vault Festival London.

Galvanise

Vault Festival, London

Three stars

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Anacaona, Grace O’Malley and Lakshmibai of Jhansi may be little more than footnotes in the history books we study at school but they loom large in the lives of the three teenage girls in Helena Westerman’s astute new play, Galvanise. Best friends Lakshana, Jess and Shanay are in the final year of school, getting ready to face the challenges of university and impending adulthood. Each of them has difficulties to navigate: Lakshana is under incredible pressure to get into Oxbridge, Jess is worried about unwanted attention from her mum’s boyfriend while Shanay has her own personal demons to fight. As reality bites and friendships are tested, they seek inspiration from stories of heroic female leaders they have heard about from the past.

Lakshana tries to embody the leadership qualities of Lakshmibai, the rani (or queen) of the state of Jhansi in northern India who rode into battle in the 1857 Indian Rebellion, becoming a symbol of resistance against the colonising British Raj. Jess draws on 16th-century Irish heroine Grace O’Malley, an influential landowner and privateer who secured an audience with Elizabeth I in her fight against English injustice back home. But another female leader, Anacaona, a chieftain of the Caribbean’s indigenous Taino people who was killed by Spanish invaders in 1503, is a more haunting presence for Shanay.

Accounts of these historical figures are brought to life through striking black-and-white animation by Diana Garcia, projected on to the stage alongside sound designed by Christina Orchard. The past threatens to overwhelm the present as the girls explore their identities, drawing echoes of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls in its representation of valiant women of the past in a modern setting. However, the three teenagers find these stories of fierce female heroism can go only so far, recognising that there is more to being a strong woman than riding into battle with a baby strapped to your back and they need to find their own paths.

Rascal Theatre’s production features three engaging performances from Angelina Chudi, Raagni Sharma and Westerman herself, who is also the company’s co-artistic director. Directed by her fellow artistic director Caroline Simonsen, the show finds both humour and angst in the teenagers’ lives with a freshness and naturalness in its dialogue. Most of all, Galvanise is a touching drama that explores the ebbs and flows of female friendship and the importance of this powerful bond and the strength it brings.

Running to 3 March 2019

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