REVIEW: A Woman Walks Into a Bank by Roxy Cook at Theatre503 November 21 - December 15 2023

‘innovative to the point of feeling like a new form of play’ ★★★★

‘A woman walks into a bank’ sounds like the opening to a new joke. Appropriately, the piece is full of humour, both absurd and physical, despite themes of cash, commerce, and cats… in Communist Moscow.

The first thing you observe is that the stage looks like the designer took a series of carpet runners and lined them on the floor and walls. The next thing you notice is that the blaring music is Western songs sung (or rapped) in Russian. The lighting is a series of parallel LED strips between the panels, with a full moon-shaped lamp hanging down from the centre. Two chairs face the audience. Nothing prepares for the feat of carpentry about to be witnessed.

Two storytellers start from the opening phrase, and spiral, experiment and piece the story together, almost improv-style, but much more practiced, pinpoint magnificence. It seems innovative to the point of feeling like a new form of play. It gives us insight into the lady who entered that bank and her state of mind.

Three incredible actors, who alter on a pin drop, are nameless characters and play their type perfectly: an 82-year-old woman (Giulia Innocenti), a young bank manager (Sam Newton), an older man who works as a debt collector (Keith Dunphy). Innocenti transforms into a cat, a narrator, and an old woman (despite being decades younger) effortlessly. Newton balances the confident swagger of youth mingled with inexperience. Dunphy surprises us at several moments, in laugh out loud ways, and holds a superior rein on his role. At one point, all three become Sally the housecat, performing with incredible alacrity, and are choreographed with precision. It is a sight to remember.

The hilarity and sublimity of the scenes can overshadow the things that portend: that there is an old lady who has, indeed, entered a bank and is being saddled with a ridiculous debt, one that she will be required to pay. Through coincidental occurrences, the tension slowly unfolds and we eventually get to the actual plot. Though the piece could benefit from a bit of culling, as it asks a lot of focus from the audience, which we willingly give.

Bit by bit, the storyline is deconstructed, along with the staging, until we spiral back to where we started. You might forget the plot details, but you’ll never forget these three brilliant performers in this audacious play.

Photographer credit: David Monteith-Hodge

A Woman Walks Into a Bank by Roxy Cook

Theatre503

November 21 - December 15 2023

Box Office:

Performed by Giulia Innocenti, Sam Newton, Keith Dunphy

Directed by Roxy Cook

Set and Costume Designer: David Allen

Lighting Designer: Joe Price

Sound Design and Composer: Hugh Sheehan

Reviewed by Mariam Mathew