Skin Like Butter, The Thelmas: Theatre Review
Submitted by RachCreeger on 5 February, 2015 - 16:59
Skin Like Butter by Leah Cowan
Directed by Madelaine Moore
Script development and Dramaturgy by Madelaine Moore
Produced by “The Thelmas” Rhiannon Story and Madelaine Moore www.thethelmas.co.uk
Technician / Stage Management by Davie Oakes.
Featuring:
John Omole as Jerome
Yvette Boakye as Lucille
Sukh Ojla as the Home Office Lady and Janna
John Rayment as Officer Vaughan and Man On Flight
Anthony Cozens as Officer Evans and Asylum Interviewer
The Etcetera Theatre, Camden, London on 21st and 22nd January 2015
Running time: 60 minutes
Having seen Ladylogue! and as someone who has previously worked with young refugees and
asylum seekers, I was interested in discovering how The Thelmas would be able to inject the
immigration theme with their own unique style.
Skin Like Butter tells the story of Jerome (Omole) who wishes to settle in the UK, having
originally visited as a student. The play raises questions about whose problems makes them the
best candidate for asylum – is it the person with the worst history? Or the individual who was
most affected by their experience? Or the one who can spin the best tale – “weaving a story using
only your favourite coloured threads”? Much like the fad for traumatic back stories helping people
to progress through “talent” shows such as the X Factor, the Home Office Lady encourages
Jerome to lose his intelligent but sardonic mode of speech in order to make himself appear
sympathetic, before she has managed to gain his trust and learn how he has come to be here.
The wordplay throughout is interesting, with some clever delivery choices. The singsong banter of
the Home Office team reminded me of the Embassy workers in the musical “Chess”. The
characters successfully convey the belief that some things they are made to say and do are simply
bureaucracy and nonsensical if examined logically. This combined with Jerome’s poetic language
and the clever use of echo, repetition and overlapping speech gives a musical flow throughout,
which is maintained by evocative soundtrack choices during scene changes. Omole occasionally
stumbled over some of the denser sections of dialogue, but it seemed to me that this was partly
due to the intensity of the piece.
Jerome’s free spirited yet pragmatic on-off girlfriend Lucille (Boakye), travels for her musical
career and doesn’t share his urge to settle in the UK. She narrates part of the story with humour
and you get a sense of her reluctance to tie herself down even for love. Lucille is as intelligent as
she is independent and the characters work well together.
This was a dynamic and engaging take on a subject that has already been explored across all
media. We had familiar characters in terms of the Home Office officials, delivered by Ojla,
Rayment and Cozens with an appropriate mixture of boredom, humour, jobs-worthiness and
menace. It might be interesting to hear something more about their individual views. Ojla also
makes an entertaining turn as Jerome’s friend Janna, visiting him in the detention centre.
The simple set allows for flexible use of a very small space, and the intimacy of the Etcetera
theatre (including the closeness of others in the full house that night) lends itself well to the sense
of claustrophobia one imagines those detained must feel – which is not necessarily connected to
available space but rather freedom of movement. In the final section, as Jerome finally reveals his
story whilst constantly skipping, the hypnotic whirr of the skipping rope and its fluorescent blur
adds an exciting and almost dangerous edge to his tale. It is a bleak and difficult past that is given
heat and urgency through his constant movement. That will stay with me for some time.
This is still a work in progress, and it has a lot to offer and some new things to say. A line that
resonated was “We are here, because YOU were there”, we are all on an intersecting journey
down an individual path. The programme delivers a “note from the writer” which begins,
“Immigration detention is a topic that often gets snagged in a web of jargon and detail, which can
make it unattractive to discuss.” Possibly because of its roots in first person stories, Skin Like
Butter manages to convey a sense of authenticity without preaching politics to the audience.
(C) Rachel Creeger 2015
*NEW DATES ADDED IN FEBRUARY*
Author's review:
****