by Ian Diddams.
photos by Ian Diddams and Luke Ashley Tame at Acadia Creative.
In the U.K. a one hundred and sixty-eight women and girls are murdered each year – almost one every two days. Eighteen percent of all recorded crime is domestic abuse. To the year end March 2022 police recorded 194,683 sexual offenses. Of which 70,330 were rapes, and of those just 3.2% were prosecuted, with a conviction rate of 62%. That is a conviction rate of under 2% of all reported rapes. “Reported” being the key word here.

“Faith”, devised by Uncaged Theatre and written by Meg Pickup and Taruna Nalini, explores this background in its story involving four long standing friends – Colly & Kaia a cohabiting lesbian couple, Mercy who has an off-stage lesbian partner, and Theo who leads a promiscuous, single gay lifestyle. They share evenings together drinking wine – and cider – and playing games where Uno is the safe game of common agreement over strife ridden Monopoly and the ownership of “Mayfair”. Their harmonious, loving and tight knit group comes under pressure when a close female friend disappears after one such night when she never reaches home after her Uber ride. Things never will be the same again.


Before the friend’s disappearance we witness small cracks in Kaia and Colly’s relationship, which love and partnership smooth over but it’s bubbling below the surface continually. The safety of Theo’s promiscuous gay lifestyle via Grindr is questioned by the three women, but he brushes it off – a foreshadowing of what is to come in some ways. Mercy is portrayed as the most on-the-level of the four.
The disappearance of their friend lifts the lid on all of these relationships and interactions. The women are connected by a constant fear and dread of male violence. Theo’s viewpoint is one of self-protection and public perception of himself as a male and these two sides of the coin are unable to fully appreciate each other’s position. As Colly opines, women are worried about BEING the next victim, while men are worried about being blamed. The cracks in Kaia and Colly’s relationship widen over differences in approaches to the tragedy; Colly’s solution is to protest and push the issues into people’s faces, Kaia’s is to hide away and not stir society’s pot.
The final monologue is stark.


“Faith” is a work in progress and the Rondo performance was its world premiere. As a work in progress there are areas to flesh out, I am sure – Theo’s story is ripe for this area both with his own vulnerability in his encounters and also as the closest male to the victim. The area around race of the Uber driver is hinted at – and could again be a sub-plot to expand on, though that may be a distraction for the overarching premise and theme of this play.


All four characters are clearly and perfectly drawn. Meg Pickup as strong willed, somewhat selfish Colly, Taruna Nalini as the loving, but insular Kaia, Billie-Jo Rainbird as the level-headed Mercy and Nicholas Downton-Cooper as Theo living his best unfettered gay life whilst overly sensitive and defensive to public perceptions.


The set by Uncaged Theatre is a simple one (I like a simple set me!) where the action all takes place in Kaia and Colly’s flat. Lighting and sound by Maria Hemming sets the tone and time and day, and Billie-Jo. There are clever uses of TV reporting voices – voiced by Ashley Kelberman and Max Baldock – to cover the news around the disappearance and eventual discovery; a very good directorial touch by the company.


The show is a hard watch, unsurprisingly, due to its core premise. But it’s a well told one written from unfortunate knowledge. At least one of the abuse stories related in the play is 100% true from one of the cast’s own experience, and all are based on real occurrences. It is something everybody should see; the writing is precise, pertinent and pulls no punches. The characters are well drawn – these are people we all know … normal, everyday people leading everyday lives just like ourselves. In a friendship group just like we all have. Yet we are lucky enough – mostly – to not face what happens to one of our friends. I hope for all our sakes. Because one day … it may be us. Maybe it’s us that takes that last Uber ride thinking we are nearly home… It will move you – it SHOULD move you. I cried when I reflected on the show.
In closing, we need also reflect that in the time between seeing the show and writing this review, statistically in the U.K. another woman has been murdered.


“Faith” can be seen at the Alma Tavern, in Bristol, on August 10th at 8pm.
Tickets from https://www.tickettailor.com/events/almatheatrecompany/1242658
devizine.com 