The Women’s Centre

Domestic Insight

The Women’s Centre

by Eliza Halling

The Play Is Not The Thing at Oxford House, Bethnal Green until 22^nd November

Review by Denis Valentine

The play The Women’s Centre is presented under the aegis of a company called The Play Is Not The Thing, with an opening programme note that the focus is ‘on the process rather than the product’ so any audience member going into it, can be forgiven for thinking that they may not be getting quite a coherent show, but more a mish-mash presentation of ideas and concepts.  This is however not the case, and what writer Eliza Halling, director Louise Wellby and their company have put together is an acute look into a maligned aspect of society through what is, for the most part, a well-crafted linear piece of theatre. 

The show has very poignant moments of dialogue between characters.  The play circles round domestic abuse, and for anyone unaware or looking for insights into the situations that people in these circumstances may suffer from, lines such as ‘the worst bit was, I called the police’ from Michelle Baker’s character Chelsey, a client at the centre, serves as stark and almost morbid highlight. 

One of the points being made in the piece is about the struggles and issues certain members of society have just to be heard.   It is interesting to note that a lot of the humour that draws audible laughs from the audience comes from dialogue likely to have been taken from very real accounts and lived experiences of what people have actually faced.   

In terms of individual performance, special mention must go to Abigail Kwao, who plays the role of Ama, a woman in an actual vulnerable and unnerving situation brilliantly.  She really helps to anchor all going on around her with a sense of understated realism and semblance.  It is through her performance that anyone in the audience unfamiliar with women in Ama’s situation really get an insight into not only some of the perils and concerns they may have, but also how hope and chance can be achieved.   

Eliza Halling, as Phoebe the head of the centre, has some strong moments in capturing someone at the top of the chain, but oblivious to the real needs and concerns of not just whom they are trying to help, but also of their own workers.

To add to this theme in the second half, the office on stage becomes the scene of a more theatrically heightened piece with Wellby handling with vigour, a comedic performance of your classic modern day self-congratulating authority figure, who thinks progress and success counts as a clever slogan or soundbite rather than any real practical undertaking. 

Shelly Corsine accurately embodies Dee ‘The Cleaner’ who in terms of the world of the play may be the centre’s most valuable asset, as the character provides a true human face and interaction to the operation, whilst also offering more hope to the women that need it, than any official policy or decree.  Corsine plays the character well and really brings across the nature the she almost oblivious to her own importance.   

All the other actors, such as Helen Kennedy and Kim Weeks, handle their parts well and once the show settles down really help give the feel of a working, revolving, lived-in environment. 

The stage is well set out with one of the areas being a recognisable reception area and the other an office.  Some more developing in the character movement on stage should maybe be looked at, especially in the second half, as at times characters go on a very convoluted scenic route just to make it from one side of the stage to the other. 

The Play Is Not The Thing may have the company ethos that the process is more important than the result, but what Halling, Wellby and their cast have achieved here is a very commendable piece of theatre with timely insights and perspectives concerning abuse, class and society’s relation to them.

Denis Valentine, November 2023

Photography by Kash Khan, image by Maha Shami