Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

August 11, 2016, The Dorfman Theatre

Anyone who’s been 16 and on a school trip will recognise the desire at the heart of this play — teenage independence, cheap alcohol fuelled adventures and sexual misadventures. And these girls own it.

We meet our school choir Orla, Chell, Kay, Manda, Kylah and Fionnula on their annual trip from a small town in Scotland to Edinburgh to sing sweetly and “go mental”…

They pull at your heart strings with their stories of trying to escape their fates — we find out their year at school has the dubious title of having the most teenage pregnancies ever… Your heart particularly goes out to Orla who was suffering from cancer and was miraculously cured after a visit to Lourdes. She’s desperate to catch up with the rest of them and lose her virginity as fast as she can.

The energy and naivity of the girls means you’re always on their side, rooting for them, wanting them to succeed. The performances are fresh and vibrant — reminded me of Denise Gough and Sophie Melville.

The simplicity of the staging — a crappy disco (presumably this is what the inside of the Mantrap, their local disco looks like) with a virgin Mary looking down over them works. And placing music at the centre of the production is really well done too. It’s used to express all their emotions — we all love a bit of ELO. I thought the gift of Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 Prelude from Kay to Fionulla very moving and very well done.

Also the girls play all the parts from creepy dudes in bars to the Headmistress. And they do so with an extraordinary verve and vigour. Simple and extremely effective.

This is exactly the sort of stuff the NT should be sourcing from the rest of the UK. (This is a NT of Scotland production). You can totally understand why this was a storming hit at the Edinburgh festival. More of this please Rufus Norris!

5/5 Fresh, new and vibrant. Loved it.