Beauty is Prison Time, Zoe Mavroudi with support from Ramapo College of New Jersey – theSpaces
** (2 stars)
A Siberian prison holds a beauty pageant offering one winner the ultimate prize – parole. This one-woman show, based on a true story, should have been the ‘tour-de-force’ that the writer and actress Zoe Mavroudi’s website claims, but Beauty is Prison Time was in fact an all-round disappointment and quite frankly boring.
This badly written and poorly acted play was flat and tedious from the word go, which was compounded by the awful sound effects and misplaced spotlights that all too often missed the only performer onstage. Solo performances need a hell of a lot of stage presence and an engaging story in order to win over an audience – regrettably Mavroudi had neither. Her hollow attempts to tug on the audience’s heartstrings with a poorly realised emotional back-story, and crass, unnecessary scenes of acting as a prostitute and abused exotic dancer, made the audience wince with embarrassment. There was a certain desperateness about the performance, which pervaded not just the character but also the actress herself, making it a painful spectacle to behold.
The simple set and very apt costumes were perhaps the only redeemable feature about the performance; with only a table, chair and sewing machine onstage; and two costumes, one of drab prison garb covered with a bright apron, and then a sparkly, very Eurovision-esque outfit for the beauty pageant itself. However, brief appreciation of appropriate and then ridiculous costumes did little to distract from the overall failure of the performance.
What was so very disappointing about this play was the ineffective way that it dealt with the issues in the play. The performance really missed out on adequately addressing the issue of the way in which beauty can be both a gift and a curse; appearance had played a role in this woman’s going to jail, but could also potentially grant her parole. It seemed a waste to be addressing this sort of serious subject matter and broaching the topic of prostitution, but doing so in such an inappropriate way, whereby the issues seemed mere attempts to gain sympathy from the audience, rather than really making a social comment.
Beauty is Prison Time is a testimony to the unpredictability of the Fringe Festival, and demonstrates just how much poor writing and acting can ruin a perfectly good story. I would absolutely love to see this Siberian-prison-beauty-pageant tale done as I had expected from this production … Fringe 2011 proposal anyone?
The Spaces at Surgeons Hall, running until 28th August, 12.55pm.
Orla Murray
5 comments
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September 2, 2010 at 3:10 am
Nancy
I’ve found that the reviews of this play that don’t “get it” are invariably written by someone who went in with their own personal moral ideas about what they wanted to see, expectations about what message they wanted, rather than evaluating with no preconception, based on the original perspective at hand. If one wants a tale of triumph of the will or social activism, then one should watch a TV movie or government propaganda film. Great art rarely touts a moral position, but rather raises questions about ambiguity and irony in how things are. This is what Zoe Mavroudi’s play and performance have so wonderfully achieved.
September 1, 2010 at 1:43 am
Megan P.
“…crass, unnecessary scenes of acting as a prostitute”?
Is this reviewer serious? The actress was dressed in a long-sleeve shirt and long pants during these scenes which I thought managed to convey the torment of the prostitute/character in a subtle and heartbreaking way. Her choreographed actions were imaginative and theatrical and had nothing to do with realistic depictions that you find on the internet, films and TV. And why were they “unnecessary?” This was a play about a woman who’s been exploited an abused in an apalling way.
And what does the reviewer mean by beauty being both: “a gift and a curse; appearance had played a role in this woman’s going to jail, but could also potentially grant her parole.” So are you in favor of beauty pageants in prisons and you think that women inmates should get parole for dressing up and looking pretty? Is that your idea of making a “social comment” and addressing the “serious subject matter” of prostitution and the conditions of the prison system? Perhaps you should review beauty pageants then. Not plays.
August 29, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Alec
Having seen this play in New York, I don’t understand this review at all. The reviewer makes claims of a generally “inappropriate” and “crass” and “disappointing” show without ever explaining what the reviewer had a problem with in terms of any actual dramatic problems. These kids of generic terms don’t help to forward the cause of artistic critique but instead simply showcase ignorant and narrow-minded biases of the reviewer. If anything it seems like the reviewer is bringing some element of personal perhaps moral or political judgment to bear here and not offering up a true artistic, critical eye on the work.
The writing and Mavroudi’s performance proved themselves strong to the New York audience both during the performance when the crowd alternatively laughed and sat wrapped in silence as the story and the storyteller drew them along. During the Q&A that followed the performance a discussion of the play itself and the true stories that inspired it also served as proof that the telling of this story in this way evoked an empathetic response from the audience and a curiosity to know more.
One would hope that a reviewer attending the Fringe festival would have the capacity to appreciate an off-beat but powerfully stylized production such as Beauty is Prison Time but evidently that’s too much to ask in this age of infinite publishers. Hopefully some more folks will step up here and offer up contrary testimony to reveal this write-up for the baseless and unfair blather it is.
August 28, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Karin de la Penha
I must have seen a very different play. The one I saw was interesting, and well-acted. I’m astonished by this review…not so much that the reviewer disliked the play. Personal taste is the issue there, and everyone’s entitled to that. But the tone of this piece of writing seems peculiarly harsh and destructive. Reviewers have a huge responsibility not to destroy the very artists who make them necessary. If she disliked this play so much, there are ways she could have expressed it without jeering. I hope, profoundly, that she will learn to take a more objective and respectful approach to all artists if she continues to review.
August 28, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Angela Riviere
I am extremely disappointed and surprised to read this review of Beauty is Prison Time. Far from being able to identify with the comments you have made in this review, I would go so far as to say that we did view the same show. Your comment that this show is a testimony to the unpredicatability of the Edinburgh fringe can be equally applied to the quality of the reviews that are subsequently written. Your own interpretation of the show is far removed from my own and those of the people who shared my enjoyment for the show during the performance that I attended. I think that you have missed the subtley of the message and if performed in the way in which you have suggested then the performance would have been cras. Your comment that the writer and actress has missed the opportunity to really make a social comment is totally uncalled for. I am glad that Zoe Mavroudi credited me as a member of the audience with the intelligence to interpret and understand the message which she was trying to convey, rather than imposing it as if I would not understand. Far from criticising this performance and the immense courage that it takes for a newcomer to perform at the Edinburgh fringe, Zoe Mavroudi’s performance should be praised for engaging the audience, not just with the beauty of her role, but her ability to bring compassion and sensitivity to her performance, evoking a mixture of emotions in her audience. As a solo performer I hope that Zoe takes heart from the many wonderful comments that I heard from other members of the audience and does not see your comments as a reflection of the wider opinions of visitors to her show.