Sometimes I think I have become immune to stories of
vulnerable young people dragged into misadventures full of depravity and filth,
by the most disgusting characters imaginable. After all, I just have to open a
newspaper or turn on the news to hear about some young woman abused and
exploited by a gang of older men. But if you think you know this story, think
again. Dark Vanilla Jungle is an electrifying show which proves that less is
more.
Andrea, played by the extremely talented Gemma Whelan,
enters the stage hesitantly and immediately disarms the audience with her
childlike chatty persona. For the next hour and 20 minutes she tells her story.
Easily distracted she flits between narratives, jumping forward and back and
changing character in a blink of an eye. She slips into Andrea’s Irish mother,
her cold grandmother Mrs V and the man who manipulates her into surrendering
her innocence, all with equal ease. Besides the external characters contributing
to Andrea’s misfortunes, Whelan also has to portray Andrea’s own multiple characters.
She does so with complete believability and often at lightning speed. Her
sudden outbursts of anger, often aimed at an audience member, which make an
already intimate setting seem even closer are tempered with moments of genuine
humour.
As the narrative jumps forward and back we are given flashes
of insight into Andrea’s childhood and inherent character. Especially difficult
in my opinion was her recounting of her interactions with her father. The
innocent actions of a girl, whose only role model is a “Jezebel” mother, desperate
for attention from her estranged father are twisted by that very girl in the
retelling into something wrong and despicable.
Who is to blame for what happened to Andrea? And at what
point, if any, does she stop being a victim and start becoming responsible for
what happens to her? I don’t know the answers but I do know that no-one can
watch this production of Dark Vanilla Jungle and remain unmoved.
