Counter Culture

The “Chaika” of the title was the codename given to Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963 and is Russian for seagull.

This play brought to us by Acting Coach Scotland is both informative and entertaining and tells the story of her life from a young girl who lost her father to war, had her schooling delayed by the war and who as a young woman went to work in a factory and became an avid parachutist in her free time, a path that was ultimately to lead to her trip into space.

The all-female cast takes turns at telling Tereshkova’s story with a Russian Cyrillic Velcro name badge being at times passed from actress to actress and Nikita Krushchev is even briefly depicted as the ultimate arbiter of which of the female cosmonauts will go on the mission. Props are minimal and some effective use of lighting techniques helps to take the audience into space with Tereshkova.

Prior to watching this play, I had only a basic knowledge of Tereshkova’s story and the information that I gleaned from this production has resulted in me going on to read further about her. The cast of “Chaika: First Woman in Space” convey real energy and enthusiasm for telling her story and this play is very much worth going to see.

Reviewed by David Andrews
#edinburghfringe2019 #edinburghfringe