Joanna Laurens’ ‘The Three Birds’ is a critically acclaimed play which won an award when first shown in London. I went along to see its first showing in Jersey- directed by Jacqui Wagner- Friday 24th March at St James. This rather unconventional tale of love, lust, revenge and family patriotism is based around two sisters- Procne and Philomela. A close friend of their father, Thereus, lusts after the younger sister, Philomela, but Thereus is given Procne in marriage as a gift of gratitude for his friendship with Procne’s father. However as Procne’s new husband’s lust for her younger sister grows stronger, the tale takes a more sinister and unpredictable path. I found the rape scene painful viewing. Too in-your-face, as the actress who played Philomela seemed incredibly young. Pre-recorded pants and screams were blasted through speakers around the four corners, behind the audience during the scene. It isn’t my intention to sound patronising, the young lady who played Philomela is a fine actress but I found it heartbreaking to hear someone so young to be reciting lines so sexually graphic! I guess it is only to be expected that I found these scenes uncomfortable as the story was dealing with the subject of rape, it is a credit to their acting ability that I felt this way. Procne then comes up with a cruel plan to murder her only son, Itys, in fear he might take after his father. This play is brave, in a way that it uses raw human emotion to put across a rather disturbing story. Well choreographed and intelligently written. It is spoken in old fashioned English which I found quite hard to keep up with and understand a lot of what was going to happening. I think this is one of those plays that an average person might have to watch a few times to catch all the details. The actors/actress’ all wear white clothes, however I fail to see the symbolism behind this. White symbolises purity and innocence.
The two sisters killed Procne’s only son Itus. Procne’s husband, Tereus, raped Philomela. So surely the only one who is innocent and worthy of wearing white is Procne and Philomela’s father. This play certainly made me think and question the more sinister and dark side of human emotion. | 
