Adelaide Fringe review 2017: Angel by Henry Naylor
AS compelling and epic in its scope as any big-screen blockbuster, Angel sets pulses racing using nothing more than the power of a brilliantly constructed script and one truly dynamic performance.
Angel by Henry Naylor
Theatre ***** (five stars)
Holden Street Theatres, until March 19
AS compelling, action-packed and epic in its scope as any big-screen blockbuster, Angel creates its world and sets pulses racing using nothing more than the power of a brilliantly constructed script and one truly dynamic performance.
It tells — or rather reinvents and embellishes — the story of Rehana, a female sniper who reputedly helped keep the forces of Islamic State at bay with up to 100 kills at her home in Northern Syria, where she became an internet sensation and was dubbed the “Angel of Kobane”.
Those who saw Echoes — British playwright Henry Naylor’s interwoven tale of two women from different centuries — at last year’s Fringe, will again recognise his skill at balancing drama with humour, creating fully-fleshed, powerful female characters and constructing dialogue with an eloquent, witty flow.
While Angel continues his exploration of issues in the Middle East, it ups both the ante and the pace, requiring an actor of incredible emotional range and physical endurance.
Russian-born, Berlin-raised, London-trained Avital Lvova is that actor, capable of conveying an incredible intensity and diversity of feelings through her piercing eyes alone, especially as the young Rehanna recounts her first encounter with predators … and her father’s rifle.
Tension mounts as the action escalates and Lvova hurls her athletic frame with pinpoint precision through an exhaustive series of vehicle explosions, captures, escapes and battles, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley character from the Alien movies.
However, with each kill Rehanna feels a little piece of herself die. Like the pistachios grown on her father’s farm, her velvet skin is stripped away to reveal a hard centre, leading to an internal moral struggle which outweighs anything faced on the battlefield.
Patrick McDonald