Review: A Manchester Girlhood at The Jewish Museum is ‘unmissable, intelligent and intimate’

A Manchester Girlhood is written and directed by Julia Pascal and about her mother aunties and grandmother.

They were a family who immigrated from Romania to Manchester during the war.

It is held in The Manchester Jewish Museum in the synagogue, which is an interesting choice of venue that adds to the play’s intimate storytelling.

The actors are able to be closer to the audience and are able to get in our faces and act.

It makes it more intimate and with such a rich story, it works.

The actors are the set, and provide the driving force for the narrative of the play.

They move around the audience and speak when the scene or location changes.

It is very smart and well manoeuvred and well directed.

Julia Pascal does a great job at that.

It is well written with rich and gripping characters who have so much raw history, sometimes the play writes itself.

Pascal does an amazing job at navigating the perspectives and jumping from the different characters.

A highlight for me has to be Amanda Maud who plays Pearl. She has this way of keeping your eyes on her even when she isn’t acting.

My eyes always found a way to her despite her not being the centre of attention.

Her American accent is phenomenal until me and my partner speak to her after the show and find out it is real.

Her English accent was the phenomenal one. She was a overly person to talk to and finding out more about this company and how much it really meant to all the actors makes this job ten times more fun.

Supporting stories that otherwise wouldn’t get their limelight is a great way for me to spend my spare time.

Women voices are drowned out by bigger voices and those that are deemed more important, but to sit and watch a play solely based on women and their stories is incredible.

This play really put things into perspective of our lives and what our immigrant parents went through to get us where we are today and Pascal captured that in A Manchester Girlhood.

A Manchester Girlhood is not to be missed.