The Girl in the Yellow Dress

Synopsis

Craig Higginson’s powerful new play is a dark, witty and sexually-charged psychological drama. Set in Paris, the play explores the relationship between Celia, a beautiful young English teacher, and Pierre, her French-Congolese pupil. Brimming with humour, rage and longing, this gripping play provides both a minute exploration of an increasingly hazardous romantic entanglement, and an insight into the tensions around class, race, language and identity that lie at the heart of present-day South Africa.

Our Review:

Scott Purvis - 22 September 2010

A worthy success at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Craig Higginson’s The Girl in the Yellow Dresshas returned to its maker at the Citizen’s Theatre.

In a small, book-framed Parisian apartment, obsession over words meets obsession over personality. Pierre, a Congolese refugee, is meeting English tutor Celia for their usual lesson. Over five short parts, the relationship between the teacher and the taught will dissolve and reverse, teasing out the unspoken subtexts which pervade their relationship by close analysis of the double meanings of the English language.

As Celia, Marianne Oldham is simply enthralling, walking a fractured line between the grand inquisitor and the privately condemned. Her control of the tormented persona breaks quite spectacularly, revealing, in one of the most commanding performances of the year, an uneasy vulnerability in the unseen depths of this complex character.

South African actor Nat Ramabulana, t...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review