THEATRE REVIEW: Hanna ★★★★

Hanna

Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

Monday 22nd January

How would you feel if you found out that your child, the one you have raised for the first few years of your life, is not biologically yours? Well for Hanna, she finds this out the hard hard way with her three-year old Ellie, to which her real biological parents now want to meet. This is Hanna, PapaTango’s brand new production exploring parenting and how far you would go to protect the ones you hold dearest.

Sophie Khan Levey shines in this one woman show that has you constantly gripped and one your toes throughout; it's like reading a book, where behind every page, a new twist or turn I introduced to make this beautiful story even more tense. Levey completely captures the innocence and sympathy which Hanna holds, especially when she imagines the other characters surrounding her. Without giving too much away, Hanna goes to great lengths to protect Ellie, so much as to become paranoid with every stranger she meets along her journey, and Levey excels at taking us along the journey that Hanna takes.

Potter has devised a production that really challenges that role as a parent, and though I have not had the experience yet of becoming one myself, I felt so engaged in Hanna's tale that I could imagine every emotion that she must have gone through after learning such earth-shattering news!

Overall, Hanna is a compelling, gut wrenchingly beautiful piece of theatre with a strong female lead to keep you carried along the way, and makes you hope that a situation such as this is never one that intertwines with our lives.