REVIEW: Ginny Davis one-woman show UpDownSizing
UpDownSizing, Wellesbourne Village Hall, 25th November
There’s too many ‘yummy mummy bloggers’ writing about their precious infants and their perfect lives and petty problems (as a former blogging witterer I feel entitled to say this!).
What there is not enough of is older parents of teen/adults telling it how it is with a dollop of humour and a ton of refreshing cynicism…
An imbalance that this eminently entertaining slice of observational wit and worry nicely redresses.
Written and performed by local actress Ginny Davis this one-woman play, which runs at about an hour, is the latest episode in her ‘Ruth Rich Saga’ series.
In UpDownSizing Ruth is preparing to downsize. Everything is fixed and sorted to a T for her sale of the large family home she’s loved for 29 years to the Tetleys. Her elder daughter and funeral director partner are in the same chain. Nothing can go wrong, until it starts raining…
The delightful thing about watching Ginny perform is that not for one second do you feel any worry or discomfort for her; the nervousness that often descends while watching a lone artist do their thing is simply not there. She has a wonderful confidence and natural gift for storytelling that bypasses any misgivings. In fact, weirdly, as she populates the stage with the various characters, you actually forget she is alone up there, so vividly is the story told and acted – all with barely any scenery, stage or sound; except rainfall and her dead mother’s comical interjections.
The cleverly crafted language of the play helps – at times it’s a simple solo narrative, with poetic lines, while at other points it’s a Noel Cowardesque romp with farcical comings and goings of the characters.
Like many in the audience, I related to the story and Ruth’s character – laughter bubbled up as we recognised ourselves in this put-upon mum and wife.
The only criticism I have would be to turn up the internal angst a notch; we can take it, bring it on. Other than that I look forward to growing older and grumpier with this super life blogger.
