ED2012 5/5 Reviews ED2012 Theatre Reviews

Mess (China Plate Presents Triggered@Warwick, commissioned by BAC/Parabola Arts Centre)

By | Published on Tuesday 14 August 2012

This performance doesn’t just break down the fourth wall, it stampedes and tramples it to dust: the characters make continual, overlapping commentaries on the play they are putting together about Josephine’s battle with anorexia, and just occasionally burst into song. All three actors are fantastic, creating funny, believable and oddly endearing personas. Josephine and Boris play off the tensions within and outside their play, while Sistahl (in charge of “the subtext”) provides the music, sound effects and the occasional character from a corner of the stage. But for all the deliberate comedy of their self-conscious performance, the real problems of anorexia are never belittled. A play about an “issue”, yes. But also about all issues, living life and theatre.

Traverse Theatre, 2-26 (not 6, 13, 20), times vary.
tw rating 5/5 | [Lia Sanders]



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