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And even more shades of blue 51 Shades of Maggie Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton *** THE weather has been filthy, and here’s a
one-woman play that just about matches it, and some people may well
think it’s even worse. Promoted as the perfect girly night out
with your friends, the spoof slant on the best selling novel 50 Shades
of Grey began as a Facebook experiment by Belfast’s Leesa Harker just
over a year ago and quickly developed a big following. Now it is a two-hour play littered with four
letter words and explicit descriptions of sexual acts that will shock
even the most broad-minded. Ironically the author, a Belfast mother of
two, studied English language and literature at the Open University! The vast majority of the opening night audience
at the Grand were women, and while some appeared rather embarrassed by
the script there were many howls of laughter as chubby actress Dannielle
Malone played sex-loving working class Londoner Maggie Muff with gusto. She cartwheels, dances around the stage and goes
into all kinds of contortions on a giant circular bed which was the only
prop. An amazing performance, for sure. Malone also has to switch to the voices of her
dim friend, Sally Anne, and the man of her dreams – posh-sounding Mr Big
who interviews her at a back-to-work meeting in the local dole office
but turns out to be a sado-masochistic fanatic. When the theatre announcer urges people to turn
off their mobile phones….or switch them to vibrate, it’s a hint of
things to come. To 19-02-14 Paul Marston
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