‘Why Shouldn’t I Go?’ is a one-act play written and performed by Janet Behan and directed by Jessica Higgs.
Three Irish women who were forced to leave their native land tell their very different stories. Each woman deals with her own trauma in her own way — with humour, with denial, with acceptance — but all three have one thing very much in common — religion and the devastating effect it has had on their lives.
REALTINE —’So one day a nun came to the school. A beautiful creature from the Poor Clare. Now. Not many women can look beautiful in a nun’s habit.’
NOREEN — ‘Come near me again with that thing and I’ll chop it off for you, I’m telling you boy! You won’t be so big when I’ve finished with you. I’ll chop it off for you, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP!’
SUSAN — ‘… a man from Newtonards with a Hillman Imp might take a girl places far and away beyond Glenariff…’
“ … Behan gives a mesmerising performance, inhabiting each character distinctly and fully. Her writing is accomplished; there is not a single discordant note in it … these stories may be fictional but they are not far removed from real events. Many people will know, or indeed have been raised by, women like this … Why Shouldn’t I Go? is a masterpiece about the everyday horrors that can lurk behind closed doors.”
***** The UpComing
… Behan creates her three women with skill, transforming herself from one to the other as we watch, and Jessica Higgs has directed it with a sure touch, nothing is allowed to get in the way of the stories the women have to tell … The result is a sixty minute theatrical delight …”
**** Reviewsgate
Presented By: Janet Behan
Directed By: Jessica Higgs
Duration: 60 mins. No Interval
