By TheatreVillage 
0
0
Lauren Waine single handedly played Wor Bella ( Bella Reay) in the touring production of Wor Bella of which I had the lucky chance to see the production in Whitley bay. In case you hadn’t hear, the story is of the World War One Munitionettes who served the war effort on the home front from 1914 to 1918 but also played football to raise money for charities. Bella Reay of Blyth Spartan’s Ladie’s was known as the Alan Shearer of her day.
This play was written and produced by Ed Waugh with the director being Russell Floyd.
I initially thought that the play was going to be about the goings on about the football team with numerous actors, however this turned out to be a one actor led play- played by Lauren Wane.
To achieve the incredible amount of lines and delivered so well, is a credit to Lauren. Lauren also acted various parts in the play and the dialogue certainly got some laughs from the audience. Whilst I understood most of the language there was definitely some words/lines that got me confused, I am not a true Geordie you see.
From an audience perspective it was sure was a big feat to be pulled off by one actor, the whole show could have been in jeopardy should Lauren had to have called ill.
I would have preferred a segment in the show to take the pressure off Lauren and provide the audience with a little variety, especially during some of the voice-over over the football matches, an actual squad of players would have been good.
The acting provided by Lauren was very good and it was nearly a packed house, with a near standing ovation. The tour of this production was relatively short but I cannot see why it couldn’t go onto some bigger stages in the North East Region.
Props were quite simple but used effectively on stage, there was also somber moments in relation to WW1 and moments of reflection took place.
It is a very interesting story and more details to the background of this play can be located here:
https://www.worbella.co.uk/calling-all-the-heroes
