Becoming Marilyn

“Goodbye, Norma Jeane...” sang Elton John, before another blonde 'Queen of Hearts' with an obsessive cult following replaced her. If we are to believe this production of Becoming Marylin, the troubled orphan who became the most celebrated sex symbol of all time had good reason to feel supplanted – not by Lady Diana, but by the very star that she became.

In the title role, Issy Van Randwyck is faced with the unenviable challenge of depicting both Norma Jeanne and Marilyn within the same character, and does so admirably – even touchingly, when addressing the star's well-documented battles with alcohol, drug abuse, depression, and the sexual commoditisation of female talent in 1950s Hollywood.

The Jekyl & Hyde premise of the show, however, doesn't work. Poorly stage-managed, Van Randwyck is left standing before the audience narrating for the better part of the show. Occasionally broken by awkward costume changes, ineffective voice overs, and the odd song—during which the actress does little with her hands but stroke herself, in an uncomfortable pastiche of period performance—these monologues cry out for some element of theatrical production to support the narrative they attempt to convey.

That said, the script doesn't do itself any favours, either; the voice of Norma Jeanne is almost wholly absent, leaving us with a show that is less about Becoming Marilyn than being Marilyn. One has to wonder what the point in this is, and how much more interesting a show about the lesser-known woman would have been.