Theatre review: Poor Clare

13th century noblewoman Chiara Offreduccio was an early disciple of Francis of Assisi, the monk who advocated renouncing all earthly goods and helping the poor. Becoming convinced by his sermons that her wealthy family's attempts at charity were performative at worst, a drop in the ocean at best, she left her wealth behind, embraced his asceticism and founded her own order of nuns, becoming known as Clare of Assisi, Patron Saint of diseased eyes. And if that story doesn't say "Californian high school rom-com" to you, you're clearly not her namesake, American playwright Chiara Atik. We meet Clare (Arsema Thomas) as she's getting her hair styled by her lady's maids Alma and Peppa (Jacoba Williams and Liz Kettle,) holding forth with them on how going on Crusade sounds like a worthwhile thing to do but quite a pain actually.

As she prepares for an arranged marriage that'll keep her in the manner she's grown accustomed to, but which she's been a little bit less sure about ever since actually meeting the groom, she hears the latest gossip about the young man who renounced his family's wealth by stripping naked in front of the local bishop.

Seeking out Francis (Freddy Carter,) she starts to increase her charitable work, inspired by him to meet the poor and homeless (all played by George Ormerod) herself and find out what they really need from her. Blanche McIntyre directs Atik's Poor Clare with an energy and lightness of touch that means it even gets away with the (rare) moments when it overstates the mediaeval tale's obvious contemporary relevance.

Thomas is a hugely charismatic lead as Clare, whether she's gossiping with the servants she sees as friends until actually thinking about the wealth and power imbalance between them, standing up to her formidable mother Ortolana Bunting (Hermione Gulliford) or arguing with her little sister Beatrice (Anushka Chakravarti) about the fact that the hair shirt she's taken to wearing is really scratchy when they share a bed. For a pair determined to make vows of chastity there's also an enjoyably flirtatious quality to her exchanges with Carter's painfully earnest Francis.

The story does go into darker territory, in the wider political themes of startling inequality, the way the system is built to prevent that imbalance from changing, and the way that system has succeeded in making the issues all too recognisable eight centuries later, but also in more intimate ways for the characters: Clare's understanding of the situation and her place in it deepens, while Francis' confidence in his teachings is shaken by the fact of a real person he knows giving up everything she has (best demonstrated by Eleanor Bull's great period dresses) because she believes in him.

But this has been a laugh-out-loud comedy from the start and that never leaves the show even when it's making its more serious points (Ortolana explaining that they're not really rich, just comfortable, while their servants wash the family's feet is a great visual.) The comparatively short running time means the juxtaposition of mediaeval politics with Valley Girl one-liners doesn't rub out of steam in a refreshingly unexpected show.

Poor Clare by Chiara Atik is booking until the 9th of August at the Orange Tree Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz.