Belfast in the early 1990s. Against a backdrop of gunfire and police raids, four women whose lives have been turned upside down by the Troubles, carry on with everyday life. Read more …
But what starts out as a riotous night out, leads to the spilling of some very sobering truths in the early hours.
Packed with abrasive humour, Bold Girls is a story of love, friendship and betrayal.
At its heart are a quartet of beautifully realised performances from Deirdre Davis as Nora, Scarlett Mack as Cassie, Sinead Sharkey as Deirdre and Lucianne McEvoy’s heart-rending turn as Marie.
The actors are as caustic and comfortable as close friends can be, if a little too polite to catch the full force of their hard-bitten humour. And despite the third-act revelations being straight out of Victorian melodrama, it remains an unsentimental portrait of women’s lives under psychological siege.
If Bold Girls isn't a patch on the craftsmanship and assurance of the work that Munro has produced since, it's nevertheless good fun, and worth catching for the sympathetic performances alone.
Between the humour and the brightly coloured set and costumes, it is strangely easy to believe that Bold Girls is a cheery and upbeat play, though this is as much a delusion as anything its characters believe.
At the heart of the production's success...lies a quarter of terrific, perfectly-pitched performances.
t's a powerful and often beautiful performance, but there are a few jarring scenes, such as the obligatory moody monologues, which seem more like stylised tics, but the four women give superb performances.
In Richard Baron’s engaging production, the ensemble does a fine job of subtly revealing the complex emotions simmering beneath the “bold” public personae they present to their families.
If director Richard Baron’s choice of realistic period setting, beautifully realised in Neil Haynes’s design, tethers the drama too tightly to its context, in every other respect his production is acute and passionate.
Feels utterly current to conversations happening now.
This is a strong revival of an often engaging play. It’s just a pity that, at its crucial moments, Munro’s storytelling is so lacking in subtlety.
Rona Munro--Bold Girls
Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow from Wednesday January 24, 2018, until Saturday February 10, 2018. More info: www.citz.co.uk
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