Traverse
Theatre, Edinburgh
Four
stars
The
party looks like it might never end at the start of James Meteyard’s play, a
street-smart spoken-word hip-hopera set to Maimuna Memon’s live score played by
Wildcard Theatre’s cast of six. For Jessie, the young woman at the heart of the
show, however, the come-down, when it kicks in, sends her on the run from her
friends in Leeds to a London where she chases some kind of salvation. This
comes initially through sweet-voiced singer Allie Touch, though crashing out in
a warehouse is merely a stopping-off point before she embarks on a manic search
for her mother.
What
initially looks like a dysfunctional post-Skins rave-up in Donnacadh O’Briain’s
production rapidly evolves into a far more urgent rush of everyday psychosis as
Jessie attempts to come to terms with her losses. That she does this with the
help of the friends she almost left behind speaks volumes about where the play
is coming from in terms of surrounding yourself with good people in order to
survive. Such a message is never hammered home, but emerges from what looks
like genuine collective empathy onstage.
With
Olivia Sweeney taking the microphone throughout as Jessie, the performances are
so natural as to initially presume she’s fronting a real band. Such speak-easy
bonhomie with the audience and each other is deceptive, however, in what is a
well-drilled machine that taps into of-the-moment concerns regarding personal
well-being.
Arriving
in Scotland during Mental Health Awareness Week as part of the Scottish Mental
Health Arts Festival prior to dates at Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, the
stripped-down nature of O’Briain’s production gives things an epic feel. Such non-naturalistic
apparel lends an immediacy and truth to a scenario which captures an ongoing
state of collective anxiety that currently prevails. Pulsed by Memon’s score,
the play has it large even as Jessie purges her demons enough to learn to carry
on, protected by the lives around her with whom she finds mutual support.
The Herald, May 15th 2019
ends
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