A Broken Rose, Cockpit Theatre

A small play performed in a small space with just the right sprinkling of stardust can be magical as Sarah Goddard's transporting new play, A Broken Rose, attests. Is the distressed teenager, Maria, really seeing fairies or are they a manifestation of her imagination, a protection against the horrors at home?

Blooming marvellous

A cross between Where the Wild Things Are and a kitchen sink drama, we meet Maria three years after  her father's death. She is 13 and trying to block out the sights and sounds of her mother being lustily pursued and taken by the drunken bully, Johnny, who reveals he's paying for services received. The payments also fund the cost of the shrink called in to deal with Maria's imaginary friends, Sun and Moon, who aid and abet her in the telling of dark and fantastical fairy stories. Is Maria also a fairy, as she believes, or just a deeply disturbed young girl? If the latter, how can she survive with a mother who cannot love or help her because she cannot love or help herself?


As the stories being told become steadily more disturbing, Sun and Moon start making dangerous and unnerving demands. A pregnancy momentarily provides hope, but this is a play built on the unexpected. Goddard's gift for tension is so great that five giggly teenagers behind me were struck silent within minutes and sat unspeaking for some time after the cast had taken its bows.

In conclusion: A tense and imaginative piece of writing beautifully directed by Phil Willmott.  Former Eastender, Louisa Lytton is marvellous as Maria. This is local theatre at its best: support it.

References
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