The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women - Review

On my visit to the Brixton House on Monday, I assumed that it was going to be just like any other production. However, it turns out, it was much more than that, and it felt like I was experiencing a once in a life time performance, like no other.

As part of the Lift Festival press night, I managed to get myself access some tickets to attend The Trials and Passions of Infamous Women, in which I had the privilege to attend and review the production as part of being a Voice Magazine Contributor.

I arrived just in time, solidly to the point where, people that had lined up, have just managed to enter the performance, giving my opportunity to get insight on something, I have never imagined I would end up seeing!

When I first arrived in the theatre, it wasn’t like any other production I had ever saw previously, since all of the audience including myself were standing up for the majority of the time, with brightly colourful lighting and rave-like music, it felt like I was attending a concert.

In Act 1, after the Court-Jester (Kim Teresa) had finished their announcement and monologue about their experience as a woman, we then had a choose your own adventure style path, in which we could then go and see, whoever we like based on how we close we were to them or if we were interested in their set.

I chose to listen Sarah – Jane's and Athena's monologue, where they discussed on issues they have experienced such as domestic violence and self – defence and judgement of being one’s self and the burns and scars that can be faced from that.

In this section, I felt like I could immensely relate to the stories they had experienced as someone, who also considers myself an unconventional person, I immensely heavily relate to the traumas and experiences that the women had faced and ultimately, felt sympathy within the women, that had faced such traumas, even though they had a flawed past.

However, despite the unconventional style of the performance, In Act 2, it also did an excellent job at talking about major issues faced by women in the UK, especially with how the justice system in the UK treats people, especially women and women of colour and how the court system works, especially with how the jury works, which absolutely shooked me that anyone could be part of the jury, as long as they are in the voting register and how much a big part they played within the UK Justice System.

I also learned on how the stories of the women and their struggles were also based on their reality as well, especially when Sarah – Jane and Yvonne discuss on discrimination, drug addiction and generational trauma.

In Act 3, we then get to see the women speak about their personal issues and reuniting once again, in which we then got to see them celebrating and embracing their past flaws, leading to a huge applause within the general audience.

Overall, this show certainly achieved a perfect job of blending the theatrical elements of a theatre performance, whilst also providing elements of true storytelling and not sugarcoating the ugly realities of being a woman, whilst making the show super entertaining at the same time.

I would highly recommend this show, especially if your interests are related to not only to feminism, society and if you especially care about law and the justice system.