Review: The Beauty Parade, Wales Millennial Centre

*We received tickets in exchange for review Photo: Jorge Lizalde

Last night Nanny Kim and I headed to Wales Millennium Centre to check out The Beauty Parade. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I was really looking forward to spending time with my mother! Ahead of the show we headed to Wagamama for some yummy food. There are so many awesome places to eat in the bay ahead of going to the theatre, you’ll be spoilt for choice! Anyway, here are my thoughts on The Beauty Parade…

Review: The Beauty Parade

The Beauty Parade is focused on British female agents sent to France between 1941-1944. They were spies, infiltrating the system, but with the very real risk of being caught and killed. As a society, we aren’t educated about this part of history, and it makes me wonder if it’s because it involved the women of war, and not the men. Telling the story of The Beauty Parade is so important, and it’s thanks to writer/director Kaite O’Reilly that our eyes are being opened to this very real, very essential story…

I’ll be honest and say from the start, this performance wasn’t really my ‘cup of tea’. This doesn’t mean it was bad, I genuinely believe it’s just a taste thing on this occasion. I heard many member of the audience highly praising it, and Nanny Kim cried a couple of times too!

So, although it wasn’t my kind of performance, I can still talk about what I liked (and a little about what I didn’t). When it comes to performances, the three women upon the stage were phenomenal. Their stage presence, talent and overall passion for the performance was faultless. I felt particularly moved by Georgina White and her vocals; literal goosebumps! Nanny Kim was drawn towards Anne-Marie Pizza, from her backstory and entry into the agency training and beyond. Sophie Stone was also faultless with her very visual performance throughout the story…

The visuals were quite full on throughout the performance, with captions displayed on the screen. I thought it was a shame that the lyrics to a lot of the songs weren’t captioned, but having inclusive performances like this are essential to the change within theatre as a whole. The costumes were simple and in keeping with the decade in question, and there were instruments dotted around for various parts of the performance.

For me, the flip from dialogue to song was very flippant, and I wanted more story, more interaction between the performers. The songs were beautiful, but the constant change of instruments felt a little distracting and I felt I couldn’t get deep into the story. I wanted to know more, and each time I felt like the story was going to go into more detail, a song was played. This won’t be the overriding opinion of those that attended, but it’s my opinion, and I want to be honest…

When the performance came to an end I felt a little lost. I feel I should have had some emotion, some feeling towards the final part of the story, but I didn’t. My mother felt emotional as we left the theatre, but for some reason I couldn’t connect. I think it’s partly due to the alternating music/dialogue, but also a lack of interaction amongst the performers, and a lack of depth in terms of story from the characters. I didn’t get a sense of who they really were, their past, their relationships, what was at stake for them (apart from losing their own lives). I wanted to connect, as a friend, or mother, or daughter, and I just didn’t…

Nonetheless, there were plenty of people really wowed by the performance, and I think this truly means it was a case of taste. The performers were strong, powerful and talented, this cannot be argued. I just wanted a bit more depth. I’d definitely recommend checking out the performance though, because this story needs to be told, and it needs to be remembered.

Thank you, Kaite O’Reilly, for showing and telling us a story that should never be forgotten…

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