In 'It Is I, Seagull', Lucy Mellors harmonises clowning with opera singing, her own operatic career with the glass ceiling-shattering tale of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.
The recurring motif uniting it all is the patriarchy and how it can gatekeep and disempower women.
'It Is I, Seagull', begins with a gag: Lucy Mellors wheels in her suitcase with her costume; she mixed up the time of the performance. She apologises, races behind the velvet curtain, then almost instantly emerges as operatic diva, La Putenesca, with billowing skirt and intergalactic headdress to begin her space opera about the life of female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. She alternates consistently and seamlessly between jokester and diva, delivering physical gags and soaring arias in equal measure.
Lucy begins condescendingly and assuredly, speaking of how she’s bringing opera to the colonies. As the show progresses, though, as she interweaves Valentina’s story with her own, it becomes clear the diva persona is just an act masking an insecurity which was partly born by the slings and arrows hurled at her throughout her pursuit of an operatic career: by body shaming reviewers, ogling conductors, or cutthroat rivals in the dressing room. By the end, she lays her experience bare for all to see.
The show is entertainment and education: as Lucy runs through the space opera she’s composed, she explains the key components of the art form in comical ways: the overture, the aria, the recitative, the ballet. She even draws the audience into her cast, in typical Fringe show interactions. With excellent use of props, and even a smoke machine, Lucy uses all the tools at her disposal, but it’s her singing voice which is out of this world.
The beauty of her award-winning voice amplifies the tragedy of this opera; that men and the systems which enable them can deny the world such great talents. With 'It Is I, Seagull' though, Lucy has found a way to let that talent shine like a star.
★★★★★
