Fierce, Camden People's Theatre

By E.J

I like the word 'fierce'. It conjures up many things: A roaring lioness, a suited and booted business woman and Beyonce stood in front of a wind machine, of course. But ultimately the word Fierce makes me think of female power and ownership.

With this word in my head and my Beyonce strut well and truly on, I made my way to CPT to catch Kathryn Griffith's one woman show. I was greeted by a giant easel centre stage that supported not a canvas but a crisp white bed, surrounded by life drawings and paintings, remnants of life in a flat and an intriguing cardboard box cave that I immediatly wanted to climb into.

The play begins with a jaunty (and slightly randy) American drawling her way on to the stage, articulating about the glory of life and the beauty of people.... before getting run over. An intriguing start. We are then invited up to a naked Felicity, seemingly in the throws of some very enjoyable sex, before it becomes apparent that she is chained to the bed and those grunts are actually her trying to escape.

She can't quite believe she is in this situation; she was only born a week ago, she tells us. The 15 year old spurts out the story of how she got here. Why she ran away to London with no money, no job and no experience (in anything). When she runs into a crazy old homeless lady, they decide to open a high class brothel together so that Felicity can find a rich, stupid man to fall in love with her and then they can steal his house. Simple enough! Allthough she has to be the first girl to take advice from a crack addict granny, she does so, and the fun begins.

The piece is hilariously written and performed by Kathryn Griffiths. Each character is well observed, her physicallity providing clear distinction. She totally commands the stage and is so comfortable and quick thinking that any minor mishaps are immediately remodlled into new, spontaneous moments of comedy. Griffiths works incredibly hard, jumping between roles. However, when new characters are added, it becomes a tad confusing in the scrabble from person to person. Aside from this minor detail though, she has us in the palm of her hand the entire time.

This play is all about women. Passionate, women that go after what they want, despite often not knowing or understanding it at the time. But, in going after these things, they display vulnerability and weakness. It is the comedy that can be found in these things which Griffiths writes and plays brilliantly.

In the programme she says 'Fierce is about the relationship between survival and fulfillment. This particular piece of comic theatre displays the absurdity - the grand farce - of any life spent resisting that which is most desired.' This is dead on the money. The play is actually rather less about love, than the way people lead their lives and pursue their goals. The innocent schoolgirl, the crazy old homeless lady, the manic Artist: they all looked directly into their fears and thought, fuck it, I'm going to do it anyway. These women weren't Fierce, but Fearless. And that to me is a much better thing to be.

@postscriptjour

Fierce by Kathryn Griffiths

CPT

14-19th Oct

TIckets HERE

#reviews