Review: IMMACULATE CORRECTION, King's Head Theatre

Written by King's Head Theatre's Junior Associate Catherine Expósito, Immaculate Correction details what it feels like to be a working-class Catholic schoolgirl in rural Scotland in 2005.

Stacey (Dani Heron) has big dreams of running away and being the first Scottish girl on the X Factor, but small-town talk, a single mum, and the growing pains of a failing education system keep her down.

Expósito's adorable and innocent narrator is highly relatable to everyone who grew up in a Catholic environment, from the way she stealthily changes her pad in a toilet to the tiptoeing around everything sexual, Stacey is utterly lovable. Heron embodies her with precision, brining all her naiveté to the stage, breezily going through the script with confidence and savoir-faire.

She's surrounded by Rachel Jackson as her mum Michelle, who tries to do her best to raise her but fails miserably in what must be the chain reaction of a youth lost to having a child too early. As her best friend Kelly, Morgan Drew Glasgow is mischievous and tongue-in-cheek. She tries to drag Stacey out of her protected cocoon but inadvertently puts major pressure on her.

The statue of the Madonna looms from upstage but is hardly enough to make the audience forget all the bags of props that hide underneath the table. However, the acting and the writing vastly overshadow the minor details in the set design and become the focus of the whole production. Stacey's soliloquies are alternated by the exchanges with the other characters, but the lyricism of the piece lies in the formers.

A bit Spring Awakening and a bit Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Immaculate Correction is a poetic take on the open wound that is sex education. Set on the verge of social media when photos were pixelated and you had to squint to figure out what you were looking it, the play makes a sincere statement on how important it is to talk freely about the subject.

Less an angry rant and more a delicate and candid story of a struggling young girl, particularly with its last scene it that leaves the audience uplifted and hopeful for a future when Millenials are given what they're due.

Immaculate Correction runs at King's Head Theatre as part of Playmill Festival until 13 July.

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