theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall
Aug 9-10, 12-17, 19-24
21:50
Last night I found myself plung’d into, what felt to me, the lifepulse of Off-Broadway. A moodily lit solo actress bubbling with an American accen, who soar’d consummately thro’ an emotional performance of a poetically detail’d script – & yes, it was absolute class!
Never trust a beautiful woman, especially one that looks you straight in the eye
Maryam S Holleman’s Salomé is not an original production, per se, but something of a transcreation of Oscar Wilde’s one-act tragedy of 1893. His version depicted the Biblical seduction of John the Baptist by the seven-veil’d Salome, stepdaughter of Herod Antipas.
Holleman’s version is different. She has become Salomé, & transported her to a torturous modernity where bruising childhood abuse has left her seriously mentally scarr’d. Her journey through these early-life trials are the most affecting & moving portions of the play – a well-woven tapestry of ripp’d-up memories that leave us open maw’d & punch-drunk at the hearing – wondrously riveting watch in which you can literally, psychically, hear the screams she speaks about. The emotion Holleman pours into her creation is quite something to experience.
I didn’t understand that I was already one of the undead
About two thirds of the way through, a now grown-up Salomé meets a man call’d John, & leads us into a denouement which echoes that of the Bible & Wilde, but with a completely different spin on events. The tempo change is noticeable &, for me, jarr’d us noticeably away from Holleman’s brilliant tragic writing.
Overall, tho’, Salomé is a breath-skipping adventure which will leave you screw’d in your chair. “Get out of here, the show’s finish’d!” huff’d Maryam on witnessing her audience’s stasis, but instead we began to fire her with questions which she answer’d earnestly & honesty – a sheer delight & an honour to attend!
Damo
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