Originally published by L.S. Media. April 23rd 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Donna Lesley Price, Kayla Keatley, Jennifer Bea.

Three women with very different lives, three extreme ways they have lived and the reactions to them were the subjects that were written about with much sensitivity, a large dollop of humour and with a fair amount of honesty, not just in the writing but in the way the select audience at the Studio 2 theatre on Parr Street reacted to the incredible portrayals of the women in question.

3 Women was written by three different writers, Craig Arnold, Simon James and John Maguire and starred the ever joyful Donna Lesley Price as a prostitute caught up in the fame game, Kayla Keatley as the young girl who thanks to her parents decisions and her reactions to them which caused her to spend time in an psychiatric hospital and the extremely talented Jennifer Bea as the vain and fashion obsessed girl who gets a wake-up call in the way she lives her life.

With the back drop of the studio 2 space, usually more at home to nights of music than three monologues giving a taste of Britain today, was perfect as it wasn’t the surroundings that was there to make the pieces stand out but the starkness that surrounded each character as they talked about their lives added to the expectation and bleakness.

It may be strange to people attending the show to see that a three women monologue play, where the actor’s voices dominated the proceedings, were written by men but in this stood the genius of the writing was forced to be more recognised and attention grabbing. All three writers and the Director of the piece The Game, Ben Hallworth, had to step up their own game to make sure they weren’t accused of writing stereotyping women’s reactions to the situations they find themselves unwittingly put in.

Touching, brutally honest and at times forced the audience to look at themselves and their reactions to the stories. An intriguing night out.

Ian D. Hall