REVIEW
Girls like That
– A play for Today
JADA YOUNG COMPANY
Dixon Studio
9th March 2019
Girls like That
– A play for Today
JADA YOUNG COMPANY
Dixon Studio
9th March 2019
It’s always good to see young people taking on difficult subjects that affect their day to day lives. This is particularly important now, with easy access to the Internet and the difficulties young people have to face with inappropriate subject matter at the click of a button. Is this a gender specific problem? Do boys have the same shame when nude photos are paraded around? Do people ask for trouble by emailing or texting photos? Does the older generation understand why young people do it? These are all questions that really have no answer and the subject is tackled very sensitively with this production by young students at the JADA Theatre School.
On arrival at the theatre we were greeted by schoolgirls excitedly asking to be our friends on Instagram and Snapchat. In that moment they were living the dream, echoing the cry of the young, who feel they have no friends without a contact list. If an activity is not ‘selfied’ for all and sundry then you don’t exist and it hasn’t happened. One girl was most impressed when I informed her as an ‘oldie’ I was on Instagram.
The JADA Young Company’s production is an excellent ensemble piece; a chorus of nine young women offer a glimpse into the lives and minds of teenage girls, energetically performing Evan Placey’s eye-opening and often uncomfortable play. The girls aged approximately 11 years to 15years, confidently shouted out sexual insults, quoting all the current jargon which is bandied around in school, without any understanding of what it means. They know all the sexual terms without any of the responsibility. This production was fast paced, energetic and sharp. There was no star, everyone worked as a part of the team.
The director, Joey Parsad, announced that when dividing up the speeches with the girls they were only given their own pieces. The last part of the play was only handed out about a week ago. This was a very professional production with confident performances from the girls with plenty of attack, all working well together. My only criticism is that a couple of the younger girls needed a little more projection.
The set and scene changes were minimal with the use of choreography, dance sequences and funky music. There were onstage quick changes through the periods of the 20th Century to indicate how the roles of women have changed. Also, the girls retreated into different periods of their school life when their childhood friendships were formed, and they first became a unified group.
The plot revolves around a naked photo of classmate Scarlett, circulating around a school on the Internet. On seeing the photo, the girls, who Scarlett has known since she was five, make her an outsider. They are too busy bitching about her body flaws, comparing them to their own and denouncing her as a slut. They goad her into fighting another girl and leave fake messages on her answer phone. They even hound the once friend, to her new school to make sure everyone sees the photo there. Then becoming nervous, in case she has killed herself, they appear on TV giving tearful tributes, only to feel they have been duped, when they find out she hasn’t died.
.
When one lad of a more sensitive nature refuses to look at the photo, he is called gay and that becomes his nickname. It is interesting in this gender fluid era that to be called gay is still an insult.
However, when a naked picture of the boy everyone fancies also starts circulating, presumably as an act of revenge by Scarlett, there is the opposite effect. His body is admired by boys and girls, he’s seen as a legend, friends high five. The double standard has always been there, but it has now taken a different form.
The ending wraps up with the girls who did everything together all through their school years, couldn’t even come together for a group photo. At a reunion many years later they realise that everything that was so important when they were the so called ‘in crowd,’ was based on unreality.
However, although feminism has fought to obtain equal rights for women, they are even more ‘objectified’ today, when a girls starts working in a law firm she suffers sexual harassment. All their bodies have to be perfect compared to a photo shopped body in a magazine. One girl even states that having been addicted to a beauty cover with Lady Gaga on, she was let down on meeting the real person as she looked so ‘normal.
Is this what feminism is now? Evan Placey asks uncomfortable questions. Surprisingly, this play which sees the world through the eyes of teenage girls and the effects of social media is written by a man.
This production deserves to be widely seen by teenage audiences, and their parents who probably have no idea of the influence the internet has on their children. It’s viciously funny, but the bitchiness is grounded in the girls’ insecurities. It poses the question, how did the generations of women who fought for the vote, equality of opportunity, rights in the workplace and control over their own bodies, give us a generation of daughters who are so insecure, and judgemental?
At the end of the performance there was a short Q and A when the girls answered questions from the mainly middle-aged audience. This obviously is not the target audience, but it was felt with one voice that this play could be used as a learning exercise in schools. Joey Parsad indicated that schools had been sent workshop packs.
It was interesting when asked which period they related to most; a couple of the girls picked the childhood ones. Additionally, it was good to hear that all the issues were discussed in rehearsal in a safe environment as due to the ages of the ensemble, there may be problems that they have already come across or will do in the future.
Maybe change starts with plays like this. It was an interesting production and JADA should be allowed to show it to a wider audience.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
On arrival at the theatre we were greeted by schoolgirls excitedly asking to be our friends on Instagram and Snapchat. In that moment they were living the dream, echoing the cry of the young, who feel they have no friends without a contact list. If an activity is not ‘selfied’ for all and sundry then you don’t exist and it hasn’t happened. One girl was most impressed when I informed her as an ‘oldie’ I was on Instagram.
The JADA Young Company’s production is an excellent ensemble piece; a chorus of nine young women offer a glimpse into the lives and minds of teenage girls, energetically performing Evan Placey’s eye-opening and often uncomfortable play. The girls aged approximately 11 years to 15years, confidently shouted out sexual insults, quoting all the current jargon which is bandied around in school, without any understanding of what it means. They know all the sexual terms without any of the responsibility. This production was fast paced, energetic and sharp. There was no star, everyone worked as a part of the team.
The director, Joey Parsad, announced that when dividing up the speeches with the girls they were only given their own pieces. The last part of the play was only handed out about a week ago. This was a very professional production with confident performances from the girls with plenty of attack, all working well together. My only criticism is that a couple of the younger girls needed a little more projection.
The set and scene changes were minimal with the use of choreography, dance sequences and funky music. There were onstage quick changes through the periods of the 20th Century to indicate how the roles of women have changed. Also, the girls retreated into different periods of their school life when their childhood friendships were formed, and they first became a unified group.
The plot revolves around a naked photo of classmate Scarlett, circulating around a school on the Internet. On seeing the photo, the girls, who Scarlett has known since she was five, make her an outsider. They are too busy bitching about her body flaws, comparing them to their own and denouncing her as a slut. They goad her into fighting another girl and leave fake messages on her answer phone. They even hound the once friend, to her new school to make sure everyone sees the photo there. Then becoming nervous, in case she has killed herself, they appear on TV giving tearful tributes, only to feel they have been duped, when they find out she hasn’t died.
.
When one lad of a more sensitive nature refuses to look at the photo, he is called gay and that becomes his nickname. It is interesting in this gender fluid era that to be called gay is still an insult.
However, when a naked picture of the boy everyone fancies also starts circulating, presumably as an act of revenge by Scarlett, there is the opposite effect. His body is admired by boys and girls, he’s seen as a legend, friends high five. The double standard has always been there, but it has now taken a different form.
The ending wraps up with the girls who did everything together all through their school years, couldn’t even come together for a group photo. At a reunion many years later they realise that everything that was so important when they were the so called ‘in crowd,’ was based on unreality.
However, although feminism has fought to obtain equal rights for women, they are even more ‘objectified’ today, when a girls starts working in a law firm she suffers sexual harassment. All their bodies have to be perfect compared to a photo shopped body in a magazine. One girl even states that having been addicted to a beauty cover with Lady Gaga on, she was let down on meeting the real person as she looked so ‘normal.
Is this what feminism is now? Evan Placey asks uncomfortable questions. Surprisingly, this play which sees the world through the eyes of teenage girls and the effects of social media is written by a man.
This production deserves to be widely seen by teenage audiences, and their parents who probably have no idea of the influence the internet has on their children. It’s viciously funny, but the bitchiness is grounded in the girls’ insecurities. It poses the question, how did the generations of women who fought for the vote, equality of opportunity, rights in the workplace and control over their own bodies, give us a generation of daughters who are so insecure, and judgemental?
At the end of the performance there was a short Q and A when the girls answered questions from the mainly middle-aged audience. This obviously is not the target audience, but it was felt with one voice that this play could be used as a learning exercise in schools. Joey Parsad indicated that schools had been sent workshop packs.
It was interesting when asked which period they related to most; a couple of the girls picked the childhood ones. Additionally, it was good to hear that all the issues were discussed in rehearsal in a safe environment as due to the ages of the ensemble, there may be problems that they have already come across or will do in the future.
Maybe change starts with plays like this. It was an interesting production and JADA should be allowed to show it to a wider audience.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll