Review: DARKIE ARMO GIRL by Karine Bedrossian at Finborough Theatre 14 June – 9 July 2022

‘If you’re expecting to understand more about the Armenian genocide this is not the play for you … nonetheless an engaging, uncomfortable, and at times funny story’ ★★★

Born to parents forced to flee Cyprus during the conflict between Cypriot and Turkish people in the 1970s, Karine is unwanted from the day she is born. Her Mum is more interested in her hair dressing salon than in her daughter. Lonely, bullied at school, emotionally neglected and tip toeing around a violent brother, Karine grows to hate herself, developing an eating disorder. What keeps her going is her love for dance and for pop star Madonna. As she grows into a young woman, she falls into a series of abusive and controlling relationships with men. She spirals into increasingly destructive behaviour in efforts just to feel something. Ultimately this one-woman show is a tale of survival, as Karine eventually comes to terms with the woman she is.

Darkie Armo Girl is a play of two halves. The writing, performance and direction in the beginning is shaky, the second half more sure-footed. Writer and solo performer Karine Bedrossian brings energy and a larger-than-life presence to the role. What comes across is a deeply personal story that grabs the audience’s attention and empathy. However, in an effort to portray every twist and turn of her life, it feels like Bedrossian skims stones over the surface of themes that it would have been more interesting to pause over and explore.
 
The expositional writing means director Anastasia Bunce’s choices were understandable but the constant miming of the actions being described in the text was distracting at times.

The promotional material and the programme notes for Darkie Armo Girl focus on the Armenian genocide in 1915. It would not have been unreasonable to expect the play to focus on that or the reverberations of this forgotten genocide on families that survived it. But apart from a fleeting reference to the genocide at the beginning of the play, there was nothing, and if the aim was to draw connections between the impact of these atrocities and Karine’s life, this was not clear.
 
If you’re expecting to understand more about the Armenian genocide this is not the play for you. But Darkie Armo Girl was nonetheless an engaging, uncomfortable, and at times funny story of a girl who loses herself and finds herself again when she finally faces who she is.

Photos by Stuart Bunce

Darkie Armo Girl by Karine Bedrossian

Finborough Theatre.

14 June – 9 July 2022, Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm. Matinee: Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm.

Where’s Betty Productions in association with Neil McPhereson for the Finborough Theatre https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/darkie-armo-girl/;

Box Office: 020 7244 7439

Creative Team:

Writer and performer – Karine Bedrossian

Director - Anastasia Bunce

Set Designer – Mim Houghton

Lighting Designer – Abraham Walking Lea

Video Designer – Alex Powell

Sound Design – Andy Wright

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full-length plays. Her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.