Fairytaleheart is a play written by Philip Ridley and directed by Richard Croxford.

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Fairytaleheart

Fairytaleheart is a play written by Philip Ridley and directed by Richard Croxford. It is produced by Replay Productions. Replay Productions is one of the fastest growing theatre companies in Northern Ireland. It aims to produce plays which have relevance to the issues faced by young people in Northern Ireland today. Fairytaleheart is one of those plays.

       Fairytaleheart is set in an abandoned community centre on a dark night. It stars two up and coming young actors Bernadette Brown (Kirsty) and Kevin Breen (Gideon). These two young characters are both facing problems at home and seek out the community centre as a refuge. It is the night of Kirsty’s 15th birthday party and her father is about to announce his engagement to his new girlfriend. However Kirsty’s mother died 2 years ago and she is resentful of this new happiness in her father’s life. She feels his new girlfriend is taking him away from her. Kirsty seeks the community centre as a refuge as her mother used to work here. Gideon too faces problems with his parents. His father walked out on him and his mother when he was young and his mother now has a new boyfriend, the caretaker of the community centre. Gideon resents this boyfriend also as he feels he is taking his mother away from him. Over the past few weeks Gideon has been creating his own fantasy world in the abandoned community centre using art materials- paint and cardboard. He goes there to try and forget his problems. At first the two characters are very wary of each other and speak rudely and defensively about their reasons for being there. As the play unfolds we learn about each character’s background and problems. Both characters speak about their problems as if they are not theirs and make up a fantasy world where they tell us about them using different characters. Their dislike of each other gradually turns into friendship as they share secrets and problems with each other. The climatic ending of the story is very effective; Gideon and Kirsty have solved their problems, have become friends and are about to kiss when the lights go out.

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       Bernadette Brown plays the character of Kirsty excellently in Fairytaleheart. She gets inside the characters emotions brilliantly and you feel yourself drawn into the story whilst watching her. Her facial expressions capture the moment of the play. Bernadette Brown’s portrayal of Kirsty is believable and realistic and she is a very skilled actress. Kirsty is a character of many dimensions and she is very emotional. Brown shows this to us in her actions and body language. Look out for Bernadette Brown; I am sure that we will see a lot of her in the future!

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