We’ll Have Nun of It – The Other Palace

We’ll Have Nun of It continues at The Other Palace Studio, London until 10 March 2024.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Billing any London premiere as Derry Girls meets Spring Awakening is setting the creative bar pretty high and for much of its 90 minutes, this feisty, unpredictable, sporadically entertaining and quirkily imaginative production does hold your attention.

Its key strength is its team-spirited, young cast turning in impressively mature performances. It’s never easy working within the constricting confines of The Other Palace’s tiny stage – even harder when encumbered with various musical instruments. That though is one of this show’s creative USPs, each performer playing a diverse selection of instruments to some effect.

Without that element this show would probably struggle as the script and the unfolding drama set in a convent school back in the 1960s, as occasionally gritty and funny as it is, never quite fulfils its obvious, dark potential. Set in 1967, a turbulent year in very troubled times, this focuses on four convent school friends coping with life-defining decisions and events before heading out into an adult world and witnessing a bit of a meltdown what with major political, sexual and religious changes.

It might have a title more suitable to a 1960s Carry On film (younger readers check Google) but here, to their great credit, Sister Sister Productions has not compromised their creative beliefs and ambitions, assembling a very capable all-female, non-binary actor-muso cast quite capable of pulling it off. Adding much credibility to the content is that it’s inspired by real-life conversations with director/producer/writer Rosie Dart’s grandmother and composer/writer Finola Southgate’s mother, who both ‘navigated’ the numerous challenges of the 1950s and 1960s, exploring themes of home, identity, sexuality, faith and Anglo-Irish relations.

Juliette Artigala as Mary, considering going into the sisterhood, is a vocal linchpin throughout, quite outstanding when given full solo rein as with ‘Not Blinded’ (Southgate), a standout number in a show which doesn’t really have a musical dud even if some numbers begin to sound a little pedestrian as the performance wears on. Heather Gourdie is almost perfect as Bernie, the very personification of a vulnerable and timid schoolgirl who, as it turns out, is easy prey for a predatory Father. Not so, Eliza, played with admirable angst and attitude throughout by Angel Lema. “I’ve never had an answer from God,” says Eliza, and you just know there’s been plenty of questions asked in the search for fulfilment, personal happiness and a purpose in life.

Come the finale, you can’t help but feel there’s a lot more mileage to be had from this production. All it needs, given the seismic issues it tackles, is a bit more bite, a braver script… and definitely a bigger stage.

Derek Smith