An AATG production.
Written and directed by Anne-Marie Bellefroid.
Performed 29th May 2009 at the Centre Culturel de Woluwe St-Pierre, Brussels.
Three women in the life of one man; Nan who did her best, strong Mum and Love, who never knew. Each of them have their own story but when he is accused of killing a little girl, they turn to each other to try and find out who or what made him become a paedophile.
Review by Annie Dawes
“Him” by Anne-Marie Bellefroid, AATG, The Hague
A most disturbing and starkly presented original script opened the festival for us. Told through a series of monologues, the story was wrung out of the three actresses (I admired the adjudicator for consistently using the word “actor” no matter which sex …..) who finally confronted each other with their deepest emotions of unconditional love, overwhelming guilt, searing recrimination and painful remorse. The set consisted of an armchair, placed boldly downstage centre, from which Nan recounted the story of the birth and childhood of her adored and over-protected son. The armchair was then swung swiftly out of the lighted area for her daughter-in-law and then her daughter to continue the story.
The only other furniture was a dressing table set upstage left, used for onstage make-up as the ageing process took place. A device which I found to be a distraction when following the intensely emotional text, as was the slide projector placed just to stage right of the armchair. A suspended screen completed the stage presentation but the few still photos did not, in my opinion, add anything to this vividly retold story about the relationships between the three women and, more centrally, the life of “Him” and his dark history of psychological turmoil. Plays with topics such as this one – child abuse, paedophilia, even infanticide – need the control and sensitivity of an Alan Bennett, without which real emotions cannot be touched in either the actors or their audience. Shocking this play certainly was, but perhaps this was more as a consequence of the subject matter than of the actual presentation, which at times I felt lacked recognisably realistic responses from the actresses.
We, the audience, appreciated how well this play was handled but nevertheless retired needfully to the bar.