Preview: A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

Tobacco Factory Theatres presents this sell-out hit from the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, an adaptation of Eimear McBride’s award-winning novel.
Presented by The Corn Exchange, one of Ireland’s most celebrated independent theatre companies, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing (Jan 26-30) follows the inner narrative of a girl, from the womb to 20, with vivid intensity and originality. A character of astonishing resilience and intelligence, the heroine is determined to make sense of things amidst the deprivation of her Irish childhood.
Here’s Corn Exchange’s Artistic Director Annie Ryan, who’s adapted the novel for the stage.

Is the story recognisably Irish, or a more universal growing-up tale?
James Joyce said that “in the particular is contained the universal”, and I think that’s right. This is a very Irish story, set in the 1970s and 80s in the West of Ireland and in the 1990s in Dublin. There is a sense of total authenticity that can only come from a very deep knowledge of that world. But it’s also a coming-of-age story that taps into deep loss, anger, rebellion, love. Anyone who grew up in Ireland would certainly connect with it, but also, I think, any woman – or anyone who’s suffered great loss or oppression, or who’s had terrible sex in their twenties. Which is to say, basically, everyone.

Describe the play’s heroine in a little more detail.
Ireland in the late 1970s and 80s was a place steeped in poverty and frankly shocking misogyny. Our girl is growing up in a leaky house with a single, unemployed mother whose only place of refuge is the Church, and a brother whose childhood cancer has left him somewhat disabled.
When she is 13, she is raped by her charming, respectable uncle. The abuse is obviously confusing for her, but she never feels self-pity. On the contrary, she feels it gives her special knowledge and power. She begins to use her sexuality for revenge, as she calls it.
The novel is written with biting wit and immediacy. While there is a lot of trauma in this story, the material is so fresh and alive that it counterbalances the darkness.

What about the staging – is it a one-woman show, or small/large cast? Simply staged?
As the whole novel is inside of her head from the womb to 20, I thought it would only work as one-woman show. On stage we can go anywhere with the most minimal setting. The remarkable actress Aoife Duffin plays it with expert shape-shifting and incredible breath of feeling.

What feelings might audiences come away with?
The feeling is a bit like the film Boyhood, in that you watch the girl grow up in front of you. Aoife Duffin’s skill and endurance is almost unbelievable. It’s a whirlwind, and usually leaves the audience breathless and in awe. And hopefully with some connection to their own sense of compassion. 

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing is at Tobacco Factory Theatres from Tue, Jan 26 to Sat, Jan 30. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/a-girl-is-a-half-formed-thing

Pic: Richie Gilligan