★★★★✰
Created and performed in South Africa, Buttermoon Productions’ Feeling Pretty uses music and theatre to chart women’s attitudes towards misogyny throughout the decades. The performance is set up like a radio show, with Raquel (Ariella Barnett), Belle (Amy Reed) and Michelle (Liné Koen) singing songs and advertising products to their listeners while fielding sexist calls and unwanted comments from their misogynistic host John Smith (voiced by Richard White). At first, the women are meek and quiet, but as anonymous callers request they sing ‘Barbie Girl’ and ‘Blurred Lines’, their submissiveness falls away as they begin to think about the lyrics they are singing and how they are treated.
The vast majority of the harmonies are excellent, with particular highlights including the opening number ‘You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile’ and the introduction of ‘Barbie Girl’, which has a haunting feel to it. There’s a good mixture of pop songs and musical theatre, with poignant ballads in the middle where the women sing about being more than just pretty, and how the home isn’t always a sanctuary away from sexism.
Each actress excels in their roles, but Barnett steals the show. She displays a myriad of emotions as she sings: from exasperation at the way she is treated, to sadness at societal views. At the end, when the women switch off the intercom that the host speaks through and take over the show, they all genuinely appear to be having a ball, dancing and smiling to each other along to a setlist of tunes that celebrate female empowerment.
As it was filmed live during a performance at Capetown’s SixtyNine Theatre in April 2022, there are a couple of instances where audience members stand, obstructing the picture. The filming isn’t the best, and there are a few audio blips, but this does not detract from what is ultimately a very entertaining performance.
Feeling Pretty is available to watch on demand as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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