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Made Up
Birmingham Rep Door
***** STAN’S Café (always pronounced ‘caff’)
are a local theatre company based in the Jewellery Quarter. With progressive and experimental work, they aim
to look into life’s tiny elements that make the world pass by to then
play out in theatrical explorations. Made Up
aims to show the intimacies of an everyday relationship between two
women. Many of us in the audience have probably held a conversation
between a hairdresser or make-up artist in the past. Stan’s Caff want to see how far a relationship
can develop within a close intimate space with only two strangers
involved. They push the boundaries of what is right and proper to talk
about to a person you do not know. Made Up
is a devised piece, created by Emily Holyoake and Alexis Tuttle who
performed for us. When watching the show, it is clear to see that the
project is a team effort, with writing and direction by James Yarker.
The concept holds a simple idea that holds a
multitude of possibilities. The show centres the characters Sue and
Kate. Sue is a make-up artist who is incredibly successful. Having built
up her business and reputation, Sue now transforms the faces of film
stars. One film star in particular is actress Kate,
having made her fame in a comical advert that transforms ‘alien skin’
which we see during the production. Kate attends Sue’s studio each
morning for hair and make-up before a day of filming. The show of two women is performed by the
superbly talented Holyoake and Tuttle, their characters reveal a
relationship between two unlikely strangers in a fly on the wall style.
As the play unfolds, we see each day pass and Sue and Kate’s daily
conversations become deeper and deeper.
Devisers Holyoake and Tuttle do well to reveal
the essence of each of their characters. It is interesting to see how
the difference in generation affects the story and indeed their
relationship.
They work in the same industry, but do not have
the same job. Their separate lives eventually meet in the middle and
what we see is the result of two paths intimately crossing. The action
stems through Yarker’s intimate dialogue, where it is revealed that both
women are unsettled by the pressures of their jobs and personal lives. The highs and lows of their life experience so
far are highlighted beautifully by the actors’ subtlety and
matter-of-fact performances. Tuttle plays mother Sue with excellent
affinity, while on the surface her success is something to be proud of,
but she has sacrificed a relationship with her partner and daughter in
the process. Kate also holds secrets from the outside world
that can only be said in the confines of their intimate space. As an
actress, Kate is constantly in the public domain and struggles to let
her true identity shine through the image that people have made her out
to be. Holyoake has a wonderfully sensitive charm in her portrayal of
Kate and gives way to the pressures of being a woman highly regarded in
the public eye, showing the responsibility that we may perhaps not
realise. The ladies also multi-role, becoming characters
from each other’s lives, allowing us to see the emotional impact in real
time as well as having the story laid out to us from the viewpoint of
Kate and Sue. The set is particularly clever. Harry Trow’s
design gives the audience the feeling that the two women are in their
own make-up box and we are looking into their world. They are surrounded
by a box of orange lights. It is their own room and the women are
oblivious to what is outside of it. The set gives the feeling that the audience are
exposed to a great secret, almost having the same feeling of listening
to a stranger on a bus. The women are blissfully unaware and allow the
audience into their intimate world. Trow also had a fantastic idea that alluded to
Stan’s Café’s classic style of technical exploration within their work.
Throughout the performance, a camera was always shooting Kate sitting in
the stylist’s chair and was played back through a screen, which we could
see behind. It acted as a mirror for Sue’s make-up. The chair would
rotate so that Kate would then be in front of a green screen, where we
would see the scenes played out before us after Kate’s hair and make-up
sessions with Sue. Stan’s Café reveal the intimacies of life and
celebrate what it means to be a woman. Together Sue and Kate divulge
their life stories and create an assuring environment so that they can
talk to each other without the consequence of anyone else hearing. It is
touching to see how an unlikely friendship can be formed by watching the
interaction between them both. Their story is of nostalgic love, pain
and beautiful hope. To 21-05-16 Elizabeth Halpin 17-05-16
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As
a result, their relationship as strangers forms into a deep and
purposeful friendship of individual therapy.