The Girl in the Yellow Dress

Fresh from its acclaimed run at the Traverse during this year’s Fringe, Malcolm Purkey’s production of The Girl in the Yellow Dress - a co-production between Citizens Theatre, The Market Theatre and Live Theatre - moves to Glasgow to tell Craig Higginson’s highly intimate and extraordinary tale of obsession, lust and fantasy. Set in Paris, The Girl in the Yellow Dress focuses on English teacher Celia (Marianne Oldham) and her new African student Pierre (Nat Ramabulana), as their weekly lessons slowly manifest themselves into something more. But as the weeks pass, mutual lies and fabrications threaten to tear this new love apart, while revealing terrible truths about them both.

South African writer Higginson’s highly personal and passionate play is a dark and unforgiving assassination of a co-dependent relationship that also captures the themes of apartheid, racism and isolation. The premise of two foreigners finding each other in an unfamiliar country is as touching as it is tragic, as Celia and Pierre attempt to escape the pain and difficulties of their lives by creating another identity for themselves, and failing. Using the sometimes complex rules of the English language to tell the stories of the two characters, Higginson’s script focuses on the social facades and behaviours that we choose to hide behind in public, before plunging into the depths of human obsession, lust and betrayal. Both breathtaking and mesmerising, Purkey’s production takes the simple ideals of physical attraction and the search for the perfect partner and brings them crashing down with a cold, hard dose of bitter reality. Touching and endearing, but at times brutally honest and blunt, The Girl in the Yellow Dress serves as a somewhat cautionary tale of the often hidden side of love, with scenes of violence, humiliation and shocking revelations. Superbly acted, with both Oldham and Ramabulana excelling in their roles as mysterious teacher and eager student, this production is a must-see for anyone who missed it at the Fringe.