ScotsGay Magazine
EDINBURGH FRINGE REVIEWS 2006
From our team of reviewers....
From our team of reviewers....
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For anyone who has not seen Peter Mullan's film The Magdalene Sisters and does not know what the Magdalene Laundries were, they were a scandal. In Ireland many unmarried women who ended up pregnant were incarcerated in the laundries to save embarrassment for their families. When did this end? The mid 1990s. I thought the film was fairly hard hitting, but this made it seem like a PR promotion for the Vatican. Carlton Martin's brilliant play allows three women to tell their stories. Grace (Roanna Bond) was attacked at the age of 13. I think by a priest but I may have been reading too much into that. Claire (Layla Amir-Solymani) was a young woman in the mid 60's who fell in love and ended up with child. As for Josephine (Laura Johnson), all she did was be a poor bastard and when her nan died have nowhere else to go.
Utterly faultless acting that would put many a professional company to shame, I was however concerned that if I had not seen the film I might have struggled to understand what the play was about. And if anyone is awarding a prize for the worst press release at the Edinburgh Fringe this show gets my nomination, but note that I'm reviewing shows not press releases.Martin Powell
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