Fringe 2023 Call Me Elizabeth theSpaceUK 22nd August Review
Call Me Elizabeth at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (22-26 August) is a one woman performance by Chicago based writer/actor/producer Kayla Boye, and this show, directed by Michael Weber, gives us all a small glimpse into the private life of one of the world’s most iconic movie stars.
Set in 1961, soon after her Academy Award for best actress in Butterfield 8, we are introduced to a rather fragile woman who is talking about her life to a writer for a planned biography. This is a transitional time in Elizabeth Taylor’s life as she is finally coming to terms with growing up in front of a movie camera and the fact that Elizabeth Taylor the movie star is not really who she is at all, simply a fantasy figure that her public and many other people in her life want her to be.
This show is many things and has since its first staged reading on October 1, 2019, at The Den Theatre in Chicago, Illinois attracted a lot of critical acclaim. This is a show that Elizabeth Taylor fans will probably enjoy and the attention to detail in the script is noticeable, and Kayla Boye’s ability to deliver on stage a woman who is both fragile but strong willed and determined at the same time is a pleasure to watch. Most fans of Elizabeth Taylor will already know many (if not all) of the facts in this story, but it will still come as a surprise to a lot of people that away from the glare of studio movie lights and photographers’ flash-bulbs, her private life was all too often very different from her glamorous public image.
With a simple stage set, a bucket of champagne, some movie magazines and a classic little black dress, the scene is set for a script that skilfully introduces us to what is going on around us (unseen of course) at Elizabeth Taylor’s home. The telephone is constantly ringing, and although that does become a bit irritating at times, it does serves as a good script device to allow Kayla Boye to introduce us to some of the other famous people in Elizabeth Taylor’s life. All of course are show-business legends who need little or no introduction to the audience.
To hold an audience’s attention for a dialogue driven show like this is a skill in its own right and Kayla Boye achieves this with ease to give us all an insight into the private life of a woman who realises that she has become trapped in a gilded cage of other people’s making without realising that the door had nearly closed her in it forever.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Set in 1961, soon after her Academy Award for best actress in Butterfield 8, we are introduced to a rather fragile woman who is talking about her life to a writer for a planned biography. This is a transitional time in Elizabeth Taylor’s life as she is finally coming to terms with growing up in front of a movie camera and the fact that Elizabeth Taylor the movie star is not really who she is at all, simply a fantasy figure that her public and many other people in her life want her to be.
This show is many things and has since its first staged reading on October 1, 2019, at The Den Theatre in Chicago, Illinois attracted a lot of critical acclaim. This is a show that Elizabeth Taylor fans will probably enjoy and the attention to detail in the script is noticeable, and Kayla Boye’s ability to deliver on stage a woman who is both fragile but strong willed and determined at the same time is a pleasure to watch. Most fans of Elizabeth Taylor will already know many (if not all) of the facts in this story, but it will still come as a surprise to a lot of people that away from the glare of studio movie lights and photographers’ flash-bulbs, her private life was all too often very different from her glamorous public image.
With a simple stage set, a bucket of champagne, some movie magazines and a classic little black dress, the scene is set for a script that skilfully introduces us to what is going on around us (unseen of course) at Elizabeth Taylor’s home. The telephone is constantly ringing, and although that does become a bit irritating at times, it does serves as a good script device to allow Kayla Boye to introduce us to some of the other famous people in Elizabeth Taylor’s life. All of course are show-business legends who need little or no introduction to the audience.
To hold an audience’s attention for a dialogue driven show like this is a skill in its own right and Kayla Boye achieves this with ease to give us all an insight into the private life of a woman who realises that she has become trapped in a gilded cage of other people’s making without realising that the door had nearly closed her in it forever.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com