<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nObviously, there are content warnings to this show like\nnever before. Take Dear Evan Hansen<\/em>\u2019s\nsuicide content warning but for everything related to pregnancy and children\nand multiply that level by a solid thousand. The show follows the child-facing\ndecisions of its sole performer, a captivating Jade Williams, at various points\nin her life when she has been pregnant, or wanted to be pregnant, or didn\u2019t\nwant to be, and how she felt during all of it. It also has a great deal of what\nI consider Next to Normal<\/em> backstory\nabout potential child loss, which was very well done and stressful and harrowing.\nI don\u2019t know if anyone who has faced this sort of unspeakable loss would be able\nto make it through this section. The tiny room, the sole performer right there,\nbaring her soul, it all creates such an intimacy that was breathtaking and so\npowerful that it was often distressing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite repeatedly saying \u201cI am Jade Williams and\u2026\u201d (a few\ntoo many times, perhaps, at least in the last section), this isn\u2019t actually our\nfine performer\u2019s story, and what of it actually happened to the actual writer\nis unclear too \u2013 but what\u2019s the \u2018truth\u2019 is not relevant. It\u2019s all truth, it\u2019s\nall experiences that have happened to so many people and that\u2019s what matters,\nnot determining which parts were autobiographical on the anonymous writer\u2019s\npart. Kind of missing the point chief!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first section, with its frequent blackouts separating short, often funny statements, is cleverly done, setting a sarcastic and humorous tone but announcing how dark and real things would get. The second section, or chapter, as we learn more about this \u2018Jade\u2019 and her relationship and experiences, is a sharp contrast but equally brilliant in its ruthless openness. With sensitive and elegant direction by Amelia Sears, the tiny show accomplishes so much with effective minimal staging \u2013 a bathtub, buckets of water (that seemed to stay hot?? how!), candles (my god the candles). The final section, as Jade explains that it\u2019s not exactly her actual life she\u2019s been recounting, feels unnecessary since this is all about being universal tales, and so lost the tiniest bit of the magic. But overall, something this real and candid and, yes, universal is a triumph of honest storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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INFORMATION <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHey yo Ev<\/em> (what husbo p and I call Everyman<\/em> because of that godawful Chiwetel production so I guess it’s what we’ll call Everywoman <\/em>too) plays at the Bunker Theatre until Saturday Feb 22. The show is just under an hour (at press night was about 57 minutes). After a ten minute break, there is an approximately 20-minute confession by a different writer\/performer every night. These confessions are private and not up for review, so I\u2019ll simply say that I am still blown away by the clever writing and ingenuity of the one I was lucky enough to hear. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The riveting new work Everywoman finally offers a worthy counterpart to the classic 15th century morality play Everyman. Well, not \u2018counterpart\u2019 so much as \u2018play that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\n
Everywoman at London\u2019s Bunker Theatre: You\u2019re GD Right This is Universal - Laughfrodisiac<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n