Chat Sh*t, Get Hit @ Summerhall
Martha Pailing's solo show is an earnest, funny and engaging look at female rage, but one which feels underdeveloped at times
A solo show by Martha Pailing, Chat Sh*t, Get Hit nestles itself in the Former Women’s Locker Room in Summerhall. Its focus is female rage; the depth and breadth at which it is both present and ignored. Pailing is earnest and funny at times – her show describes the fallout of a nasty breakup, her return to the chippy she worked at aged 15, the humiliation and anger of a thirty-one-year-old flipping grease-laden tables in Blackpool.
And Pailing is angry. Her show is a testament to the frustrations of womanhood – how suppressed anger festers and turns inward. Pailing is also warm, earnest and engaging in her storytelling, bringing the audience into the folds of her rage across her fifty-minute set. She successfully draws in the room with her honesty. Her words will resonate with many, as Pailing explores how, while male anger can be expressed and understood, female anger is diminished and repressed.
However, where Chat Sh*t sadly falls short is its lack of a coherent narrative and story arc. Pailing jumps through her anecdotes, arriving at an anger management class in London and a conference without explanation. She ends on an ambitious, if drawn-out metaphor of what suppressed rage can do to a body.
Pailing leans on her background as a spoken word and performance artist, leading the audience in interactive football chants and a writing exercise. Her CV boasts residencies in the Roundhouse (London) and The Old Electric (Blackpool). As a show, Chat Sh*t has been around since 2023. Given its age, the development of the piece is slightly underwhelming. The name and marketing are a slight misfit to what Pailing describes as “unruly, messy and generous” content that crosses genres. Like Pailing, Chat Sh*t, Get Hit needs to decide what it wants to be.
Chat Sh*t, Get Hit, Summerhall (Former Women's Locker Room), until 25 Aug, 5.20pm, £14-15