Shall we join the ladies?
“Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour,” the Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit now enjoying its U.S. premiere at New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas through June 25 (with bookings in Scotland, Ireland and London already in its future) can be rude, crude and offputting.
It’s also brilliant — not just in how it breaks through its own wall of brash sex talk and arrogant youthful rebellion to craft a delicate coming-of-age drama, but in how it uses a few simple staging techniques to create a universe of unsavory temptations to ensnare its cocky young heroines.
The Catholic schoolgirl choristers are taking a trip to a singing competition in Edinburgh. Chell, Kay, Orla, Manda, Kylah and Fionnula, have prepared well for this escape from small-village stultification. They’ve filled soda bottles with liquor stolen from their parents and siblings. They’ve plotted bar crawls and pick-ups.
You could call the results “Church School of Rock,” except that there’s no convenient redemption and closure, no life lessons clearly learned. The sheer level of obscenity, danger and psychological distress can be hilarious, with the added entertainment of complete unpredictability. The show is as cathartic as it is comic.
“Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour” might seem to get its impact from the central obvious irony of sweet young things crooning uplifting anthems such as Mendelssohn’s “Lift Thine Eyes” and Handel’s “My Heart is Inditing” while cursing like longshoremen when they’re offstage. But this biting sixfold coming-of-age tale is much more emotionally complex than that. The characters have been subjected to serious disturbances in their young lives that they are still trying to process. Several have bad home lives. Most are coming to terms with their personal, social or sexual identities. Kay is the only one likely to attend university and is burdened by parental expectations. Orla has cancer. The girls can be supportive and understanding of each other’s issues. They can also lash out, be dismissive or be oblivious. The stories are imbued with unsettling images of death, depression and debauchery.
The show relies on texts written by men — the script is by Lee Hall (author of both the film and stage versions of “Billy Elliot”), based on Alan Warner’s novel “The Sopranos” — but there’s a hyperconscious female vibe and energy. There’s no sugarcoating or patronizing when it comes to how teen girls talk (the f-word is a constant) and what they talk about. An all-female cast — the six actors plus a three-piece rock combo — and director Vicky Featherstone keep the story grounded, while their accomplished harmony singing (to inspired musical arrangements crafted by Martin Lowe) keep the music heavenly.
“Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour” bears a strong resemblance to the original off-Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” with its onstage rock band, its stripped-down set of imposing amps and speakers, and its song-confession-song-confession structure. Tables full of liquor bottles are the main set pieces. The performers take turns portraying the various loathsome males the choir girls meet on their outrageous odyssey through Scottish urban circles of hell.
Though it loses none of its harshness, or its rock-and-roll energy, the play does get sweeter as it goes on. Hall has injected the holy/unholy extremes of the story and its soundtrack with a middle ground that allows for choral renditions of six songs by the quasi-classical pop band Electric Light Orchestra, plus Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry.” The ELO numbers aren’t cheap gags. They push the plot forward, and unleash some righteuous energy. You may never listen to “Don’t Bring Me Down” or “Wild West Hero” the same way again.
For the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, “Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour” is in the take-no-prisoners tradition that also brought the premieres of such brash projects as Hilda Paredes’ chamber opera “El Palacio Imaginado” and Taylor Mac’s “The ’90s” to New Haven.
One hopes that “Our Ladies…” is able to draw in a younger audience than the one that filled the theater on Friday’s opening night. This show deserves to be seen by people who recall their own times of rebellion and escape, not just by those who are glimpsing that world through their children or grandchildren.
Revolting in both key senses of the word, “Our Ladies” is also revelatory.
“OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR” runs through June 25 at the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven, as part of the 2016 International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at both 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $55 and $85, $50 for seniors and $20 for students and youth. artidea.org
