The Great Disappointment Of Santa Muerta @ Oran Mor

The doubts, neuroses and motivations of the jobbing actor are explored in this lyrical, pithy play, written and performed by the brilliant Amanda Monfrooe. We follow her backstage, hearing her panicky inner monologue chanting mantras of reassurance, wander into her flat where the failure to feed even her goldfish is symptomatic of workaholism, and even witness a mini meltdown in the supermarket. The reason for this malaise? The actor has taken on the biggest, most all-consuming role of her life: Santa Muerta - death itself.

As she slips in and out of elaborate costume, she ponders the reasons Mexicans are so comfortable in celebrating mortality with their Day Of The Dead festival and starts taking method acting to new levels, seeking death at every turn, craving authenticity to bleed into her work. A dead pigeon elicits histrionic sympathy; the restaurant where she works during the day provides a vent for her new-found vegetarianism, symbolism appears in the form of a large black dog puppet for depression, and hilariously, a Robert Pattinson doll becomes the face of immortality.

Grand themes - Britain's inability to cope with death unless filtered through the prism of news items or thrillers; war; consumerism; the ageing process - are deftly handled through a smart script which builds in momentum, until finally we see Santa Muerta herself; merciless, proud and unflinching in her gaze. One of the finest in PPP's series so far. [Lorna Irvine]