THE UNREMARKABLE DEATH OF MARILYN MONROE
stage
ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE
Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon
Fri 30 June
In this classic dark comedy from English
playwright Joe Orton, a strange lodger
joins middle-aged landlady Kath and her
elderly father in their house at the side
of a rubbish dump. Glad to welcome a
shake-up to her drab existence and the
company of a new face, Kath soon hits
it off with the attractive Mr Sloane. Both
reveal the secrets of their past but when
Kath’s father, Kemp, hears the lodger’s
story, he bubbles up with a distrust for the
ambiguous man, believing he’s someone
other than he says he is.
The relationship between Kemp and Mr
Sloane soon turns sour and results in a
violent confrontation. Yet, Kath’s desire
for the weird man only deepens and things
between them heat up. When her brother
Ed arrives on the scene, he too drums up
a rapport with the lodger and Kath is no
longer the only one competing for Sloane’s
favours.
After sparks of secrets and jealously,
it becomes all too clear that Mr Sloane
is more than just an eccentric man.
Unwilling to let go of his suspicions, Kemp
confronts Mr Sloane once again, breaking
down the lodger’s bizarre front to reveal
a terrible secret. Expect the uncanny,
promiscuous and odd from a play which
questions the boundaries of family
relations.
Tickets: £13-£15. Info: 01874 611622 /
www.theatrbrycheiniog.co.uk (HR)
BUZZ 40
The Metropole, Abertillery, Wed 18 June;
Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Thurs 19 June
The time has come to open the doors of Marilyn’s bedroom. As the saying goes, ‘Lights, Camera, Action’: take a
seat and experience a moving interpretation of a life that was perhaps not quite as perfect as it once seemed. It’s
time to see a Monroe we have never seen before.
Lizzie Wort brings Marilyn back to life, portraying the countless energy of the woman behind the icon that was
sadly bought to a wicked end by her very own doing. The life of the Hollywood star is told but it is shown not to be
the glitz and glamour that we might read in the stories, instead it is told with her alone in her bedroom as it slowly
becomes her death chamber while she swigs down more and more pills.
The journey from beginning to end is voiced by Marilyn herself, in a one-woman play. The curtains open to the
blonde bombshell lay on her bed, hosting a monologue of her torturing existence. She has overdosed on pills,
expressing the overwhelming torments of her life, which is seen to be continually interrupted by the creepy ring
of her telephone. The audience will watch her repeatedly jump to the phone, each time opening new doors, to new
struggles, leading down a deteriorating path ending at her unmistakeably mysterious death.
Her final hours in August 1962 are retold with a sensitive portrayal of the struggles and hardship lived by the
figure of a sex goddess, pulling thread through needle of the most poignant moments of her life; her stalking
mysterious caller, her three marriages, her medical problems, her struggles with family and the pain of not being
the ‘perfect’ woman she so longed for.
Marilyn struck the public imagination and has since stayed there in a sort of twinkling past, and it is this very
capability that has inspired history. Marilyn states, ‘Life starts now’, and at this very moment she bids her
accidental farewell to life, a much unremarkable death.
Tickets: £7-£10. Info: www.dyadproductions.com MELANIE PARADISE
FISHHEAD
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Thurs 12
June; Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea,
Fri 13 June
The conventional summer love story that
began at the seaside has been enacted
multiple times, but how many feature
a puppet, an oyster fisherman and the
majority of action based in and around a
Perspex cube?
FishHead tells the story of fisherman
Tom, who meets ventriloquist Lydia, as
he is walking into the sea to catch oysters.
The plot veers far away from any corny
‘fisherman catches the girl’ plot-line,
however, as production explores the
emotional complexities and captivating
personalities of both characters through
simple, but intensely touching events:
from eating an oyster for the first time
to swimming with seals.
A production from non-profit company
Reaction Theatremakers (renowned
for their emphasis on creating original
physical theatre and focus on mental
wellbeing) FishHead is the second in a
trilogy of productions by upcoming writer
and director Tiffany Hosking. With only
three actors and a relatively small acting
space, repetition is deflected by dancers
that believably transform the cube from
a cliff top, caravan or boat, alongside
serene lighting and