How to be a Modern Marvel®

The cast of How to be a Modern Marvel® seem intent on establishing a sense of unease among their audience from the moment we set foot inside the venue. As they stand motionless, gazing out into the room, we join them in awkward silence before the show begins.

Essentially performing a crazed presentation on how women can best achieve personal and social empowerment, the French trio weave throughout our cabaret seating, manic grins fixed to their faces as they dare us to avoid eye contact. When dehydrated, they scour our tables for bottles of water with which to quench their thirst. The house lights remain on for the duration of the play, and so we're presented with no option but to engage with it. It's frustrating, then, that this proves such a difficult task.

Perhaps it's the fact that Mariette Navarro's script, inspired by the tupperware craze that swept France in the late sixties, comes with a series of cultural reference points that the British aren't likely to understand. Or maybe it's the unrelenting intensity with which Aurore Deon and Caroline Maydat deliver their lines in thick continental accents. Either way, this satire feels too much like hard work at points. This is not to say that there isn't great beauty to be found in its many densely worded exchanges, nor is it to deny the fact that the actors' lines obviously resonate with them. The play is an accomplished and thought-provoking work, just not something that one should enter into lightly.