REVIEW:

“Float”

A play by Orla Graham & Kirby Thompson

Words by Hannah McCallum

Barbie isn’t the only production released this week that celebrates the innate beauty and importance of girlhood and women’s empowerment.


On Sunday evening I attended the rehearsed reading of “Float” in the lyric theatre. I had no idea what this piece was about or what to expect in general but it’s safe to say this touching piece written by Orla Graham and Kirby Thompson lit a fire in my heart and I’m sure with plenty of others in the audience, especially the women.


Graham and Thompson approached such a delicate topic with empathy, care, resilience and affable joy in that only women can do. Highlighting the trauma of sexual abuse that 97% of women worldwide experience in their lifetime . We follow the story of 4 normal girls, living together through university, who try to navigate their 20s and the complexities that come with it. This play highlights  the noise of being told “women can be anything” but really meaning “we should be everything”: thin, beautiful, liberated but innocent and most importantly eternally grateful without breaking a sweat.


These 4 outstanding actors created a whole new world with different settings and played multiple characters without leaving their seats. I can only imagine what this play could be as a full scale production but it was perfect as it was.


I beg of you to go see this production whilst you can, next showing at Dublin fringe festival 12th-17th of September.