An intriguing and cleverly executed two hander focusing on the real life story of the 'Peru Two', a pair of female drug smugglers that made headlines in 2013.
At the beginning of this month the unfunded Omnibus Clapham won the Peter Brook/Royal Court theatre Support Award for which the theatre will receive a years’ support and expertise from the Royal Court. Since Omnibus opened three years ago Artistic Director, Marie McCarthy and her team, have worked tirelessly to turn this ex-library into a hot bed of cultural activity.
This week sees the start of a run of nine performances of writer/director Kat Woods’ award-winning play, Mule. Associate Writer with Omnibus Theatre, Kat Woods was inspired to write Mule after hearing about Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, a pair of female drug smugglers known as the Peru Two who hit the headlines in 2013. The play first previewed at Omnibus before its critically acclaimed run at this years’ Edinburgh Fringe.
Mule is a two-hander played with impressive versatility by Aoife Lennon and Edith Poor. Dressed in simple grey tracksuits and trainers with no props or costume changes, Poor and Lennon convincingly portray multiple characters – men, women and children with varying accents from Scottish and Irish to Spanish and Peruvian. Playing at high speed, with a sense of fun and an incredibly precise physicality these two keep the audience on their toes throughout.
The staging is simple but effective with a couple of wooden cubes on which the girls sit and a projection screen disguised as a large mouldy postcard hanging from the ceiling. As we enter the theatre, text messages between one of the girls and her sister back home in Ireland are being projected onto the screen. Becoming more desperate in nature, it soon becomes apparent that one of the girls has gone missing when we hear the various newscasters’ voices entering the space. These are brilliant impressions of newsreaders - intonation perfect, cold, detached, professional.
We are eventually taken through the story of these two drug smugglers via the means of a reporter who talks to one of the girls in prison. Jumping from time and place to piece together a fascinating and moving tale, Mule is a cleverly told story. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of Woods and her two performers. In the meantime, with a Peter Brook award under its belt, it’s great that Omnibus is getting noticed. Well deserved.
Mule is running at the Clapham Omnibus until November 19. For tickets visit omnibus-clapham.org
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