A homage to a place and real person: Hilda, the grandma, owner of a clothes shop on Devonshire Street in Sheffield, a loved and celebrated eccentric, and her granddaughter, portrayed by Julie Flower, as child and adult. Set against the most formative experiences of her youth and the backdrop of the 1980s, Julie reenacts, the love and care, the vitality that one second hand clothes shop brought to so many people, with a light-heart and sincerity.
The audience participation, the musical backdrop of Sheffield with the Human League, Pulp and Jarvis Cocker, created diversion and insight. An imagined handbag fight between Hilda and Margeret Hilda Thatcher was hilarious; the humour, laughter and vitality in each step towards a vision of the 1980s. The post-millennial perspective, of the audience, created empathic ripples of emotional sound as memories evoked rose and fell in nostalgic waves. A wonderful and creative experience, the audience left happy. Hilda, the ‘cat woman of Devonshire street’ well-remembered.
Mark Bell saw ‘Grandma’s Shop’ at the Biscuit Factory on 23 July.
A Newcastle Fringe review. There’s still a lot going on!
