I Love You Michel, from Nadine | Old Red Lion Theatre

I Love You Michel, from Nadine is a new play by up and coming playwright Megan Marszal. Since her writing debut last year with Her Shoes, also performed at the Old Red Lion Theatre, Marszal has gained recognition and is continuing to go from strength to strength with her wonderful storytelling. She won in the solo show category last year at the Pub Theatre Awards and has no doubt future accolades will come her way with her work.

In this rehearsed reading, however I feel with the quality of this production we could credit it as a full performance, even at this stage, we meet the two characters within the opening moments. Transported into a 1980’s Jazz club in Paris, Nadine enters, wonderfully played by Ellie Baldwin. Baldwin expertly guides us through the story with care and clarity, aided by Marszal’s intricate and fluid writing as we explore her story of her criminal past and the issues she has faced falling in love with a man devoted to a life of crime, but the excitement that brings.

Jumping forward to modern day, the stage is ignited with the jovial and thoughtful performance from Marszal as Cece, a young woman seeking answers from Nadine about her upbringing. Both actors shine and contrast each other well. Baldwin does a great job onstage for the entirety with many monologues to guide us through, which could perhaps be aided with a more vulnerable, nuanced side of Nadine being shown to keep audience engagement.

There is strong direction from Charlotte Sheehan throughout the piece with great lighting and set choices. The subtle light changes and music infiltrations during moments of reminiscence are powerful along with great staging in that you can see choices have been made but the actors always seem free. It quite simply is clear, concise and really enjoyable storytelling with Marszal’s writing keeping everything succinct and engaging with twists and turns, even if it could be elevated with more conversations between the characters as opposed to longer monologues.

It’s exciting to see a production thrill and excite an audience at such an early stage and I have no doubt this team will go on to do great things.