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A postcard to adventure Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs MAC, Birmingham **** IT ALL began with a postcard. Francesca
Millican-Slater was an arts student looking for a project and she found
it in a cluttered shop in Devon. There she handed over 50p for faded postcard of
Lincoln Cathedral. Dated July 15th, 1910, it was addressed to a Miss L
Gibbs of 62 Douglas Buildings, Marshalsea Road, Borough and it carried
the intriguing messages ‘Be Careful Tomorrow. A. C.' And so began a quest which has lasted more
than ten years as Francesca has toured the country and delved into
archives in an attempt to discover the mystery. Who was A C? Who was
Miss L Gibbs? And why did she have to be careful tomorrow? No reviewer worth their salt will of course
reveal any of these answers – that privilege belongs to Ms Millican-Slater
but what I can say is that the journey is hugely entertaining. Francesca presents the show as a monologue
and a diary. She shares videos of herself as she embarked on her quest,
photographs of people she met along the way, recreations of scenes with
householders and sellers and some very interesting documents. Blending detective novel with biography,
she takes us through her discoveries – some amusing, some surprising and
some tragic as we learn of a family's fortunes over the decades. Francesca is a born story-teller, switching
times and jumping into roles as the tale unfolds and self-deprecating of
her own increasing obsession to dig deep into the lives of people she
has never met. Her manner is highly informal. She begins
with a discussion of the best places to sit in the mac's Hexagon Theatre
in order to ensure the best view of her makeshift screens and concludes
by offering to stay and answer questions or allow further investigation
of documents. Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs performed to
sell-out audiences at mac last year before heading off to Edinburgh
Fringe and is now on a nationwide tour. And with the story still on-going who knows
where the it will go next? Diane Parkes
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