The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness Greenside @Infirmary Street
This is a beautifully written and well-crafted story by Joshua King is performed brilliantly by actress and comedian Jasmin Gleason. Philomena is one of the estimated 11% of Irish women who helped Britain during the war effort and in the aftermath.
Born in 1918 we are given something of her background in Ireland where she is desribed as “flighty” by her mother. Gleason’s facial expressions, verve and wit evoke the wider hopes and dreams of these young women who were more than nurses with ambitions and hopes elsewhere.
Among the sold-out crowd on this wet Edinburgh day were ex-nurses nodding, laughing and visibly moved by the portrayal. As a coping mechanism, Philomena and her friend Mary enjoy a glass of whiskey but “respect” the drink that she compares to the sea or a wild animal. When the horror and tragedy of war become too much, that respect is thrown away with wild abandon. She talks of the rumours among the nurses that Hitler is dead, but admits to not caring if he’s dead or sitting having tea at her aunt’s house.
This and many other moments give perspective to the nurses coping and struggling to survive in the moment. Gleason takes on a range of characters and accents bringing life the people and world she inhabits.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/poetical-life-of-philomena-mcguinness
