With theatres closed for most of the year, plenty of productions have been made available online. It’s not something I’ve really taken advantage of, usually failing to catch things in the window of their limited availability, or just not much enjoying the switch to YouTube. Even the biggest shows from the National left me a bit cold (and longing for the regions); watching Hamilton on a phone in twenty minute bursts while doing the washing up surely wasn’t how Lin-Manuel Miranda envisaged the blockbuster musical experience.
The situation for creatives is dire - enter Crosby-based At Yours , a new streaming service for fringe theatre that goes some way to improving the offer for audience and industry alike.
Kicking off a season of curated productions is the Berkoff’s Women, which was specially recorded for At Yours in September. First devised by actress Linda Marlowe in 1999, the hour-long show is a compilation of monologues and soliloquies from a variety of female characters featured in the work of playwright Steven Berkoff, including Decadence, East, Storm und Drang and Agamemnon.
You don’t need prior knowledge of Berkoff’s work to be mesmerised by this masterclass of a performance. Marlowe turned 80 this year with no intention of taking it easy; she has an innate vitality and an expressive energy still shining brightly.
It’s directed by Josie Lawrence, herself last seen on stage in Liverpool in the Everyman’s last show before lockdown Our Lady of Blundellsands, and was recorded at the Charing Cross Theatre. There’s a poignancy is seeing Marlowe take to the stage through the seats of the empty black box space to the strains of Bowie’s Rebel, Rebel, a reminder of the times we’re living in.
And boy, does Marlowe take us on a journey from there, embodying Berkoff’s luxurious prose poetry with expert wit, intuition, sensuality and poise. It’s stunning writing, and clearly a gift for actors.
The monologues run a gamut of female experiences, in turns daring, bawdy, grotesque, sexy, pitiful, fun and gobsmacking. Marlowe is utterly exposed in their intimacy, and her storytelling commands the room.
The At Yours experience is a great effort to make watching theatre online more of an event, with limited runs and a friendly social media community. Berkoff’s Women runs until Sunday, November 22. For tickets and more information, visit the website here.
