By Jennifer Beasley.
A challenging performance that tackles difficult subjects allows the magnificent Lucy Ansell to soar.
Trigger Warning (taken from Red Stitch Website): contains strong language and mature themes. It includes depictions of sexual assault, rape, non-consensual sexual filming/exploitation, coercive control, emotional abuse, and references to drug use and the incarceration of a parent.
Based upon a segment of Gina Moffat’s life, who was incarcerated in HMP Holloway for drug smuggling, and, with support, became a business owner and community leader.
Funeral Flowers is a depiction very loosely based upon her life and written by Emma Dennis-Edwards, where it went on to win the Scotsman’s Fringe First Award in 2018, and to win the Filipa Braganca award for best female solo performance.
Running at 60 minutes, this one act monologue is carried on the powerhouse talent of Lucy Ansell (Your Name Means Dream, The Dry 2), who acts as Angelique, a 17-year-old black girl from the poor district of Tottenham in Northern London. Already, that tells you that the deck is stacked against her, and when you add the fact her mother, incarcerated for drug smuggling, is more like a child than a parent to her, and the fact that Angelique, whose dream is to own her own floristry, is bounced from foster home to assisted living venues, as well as being a survivor of sexual assault, then the truth of reality saps any hope that this bright child will ever survive.
But this bright, funny, intelligent and driven girl isn’t one to let life beat you down. This well written play brims with a lyrical quality. From the lips of Angelique’s Londoner accent with its reduced middle accents and glottal stop, rhymey slang and some hip hop beats cut with slam poetry, we journey through a turning point in Angelique’s life, while the thematic of flowers and their meanings ripple and deepen the story. The Lily, often used as a funeral flower, has a symbolic meaning of innocence, purity and transition. It is this transition, the sexual assault, that uncovers the blinkers that Angelique has been harbouring, and to be able to see the people who are meant to support her as they truly are.
A set of tiered steps dominates the small stage at Red Stitch, reminiscent of a floristry display window, the middle partition a slide. Perched upon these steps are some floral arrangements and dried grass. Designed by Bianca Pardo, the confined area makes it awkward for the actor to move around, and although I commend the idea of the concept of shrinking space to reflect the tiny life of the character, it appears too much here, and at times the direction by Candy Bowers suffers because of it.
Thankfully the lighting, designed by Kyra Ryan, is excellent. Thoughtful colour spotlights and graded changes show Ryan’s expertise. My only gripe is that too many blackout transitions took place. One, maybe two is acceptable, but the extended time takes the audience out of the play. The wonderful score by sound designer Christian Biko is probably an equal actor for this performance. He has this knack of creating immersive sound worlds that compliment any work he touches. A long-time collaborator with director Candy Bowers, the creative ease is clearly shown in this work.
The most striking element in this performance is how gentle and sensitive the sexual assault scene is handled. Bowers allows the words of the author to sink, and as the aftermath compresses Angelique, she shrinks, the lights retreat, the sound hollows, until she is a tiny ball disappearing into her lost dreams and who she is.
Ansell also shines with use of her facial mobility and accents with the five other personas that she undertakes – her mother, all wide eyed, the foster carer Sam, hr father’s new wife, the course mentor Carol with her cut glass British accent, and lastly the errant and betrayer of a boyfriend Nicky.
The ending is uplifting, even if it does skip through the support Angelique would need to gain her goal. For an opening night the standing ovation is well deserved, and support material provided after the show for any audience members triggered by the content.
Well worth seeing.
Image: Jess Dcruze
