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By
Jenny Enarsson
Sixteen-year-old
Hannah is mouthy, hard, and hateful and has a boyfriend who attacks
asylum seekers for fun.
Hanna,
a refugee from Kosovo, has just arrived in Margate. On the seafront
she sees Hannah's karaoke renditions of the pop songs she loves.
She tries to join in but is showered with racist abuse and chased
away.
Everything
changes after a fight on the beach where they are on different sides.
When Hannah's boyfriend seriously injures Hanna's brother, somehow
the girls manage to see each other through all the hatred. From
then on nothing is the same.
The two girls become friends and spend all their time singing chart
hits. Mirroring each other, they are at the same time funny and
moving. Confident Hannah moves with the defiant in-your-face style
of an avid MTV watcher but every word reveals endless fury and hurt.
Meanwhile, traumatised but mild-mannered Hanna dances awkwardly
and constantly looks as if she is not entirely sure where she is
or how she got there.
Beth
Cooper beautifully conveys the unease, the grief, and the strength
in Hanna, and Louise Fitzgerald is amazing as she interprets the
remarkable change that takes place in the angry, damaged Hannah.
Hannah
& Hanna turns everything upside down. Having stood up for her
friend in a racist community, Hannah no longer belongs and in a
sense she too becomes a refugee. Meanwhile, Hanna does not feel
her mother's nostalgia or her brother's rage, and wants to stay
in Margate where she feels relatively safe and happy.
The
play has something to say about a difficult topic, and finds just
the right tone of voice. This is evidenced by the fact that towards
the end of the play, it is almost hard to hear the actors for all
the crying in the audience.
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