You're Needy (sounds frustrating) @ Summerhall

tasteinyourmouth's experimental show for an audience of one begins on the pavement outside of Tills Bookshop. I'm led up four flights of stairs and into a warm, quiet flat. The show happens in the bathroom. Carrie (Laoise Murray) – whom I'm told I'm helping reintegrate into society – is in the bath, wrapped in leaves and cling film. She's wearing every trendy beauty item at once: a reusable face mask, a heatless hair curler, a cucumber eye mask. There are even more wellness and beauty tools to be found in and around the sink. As she unpeels herself and examines her rejuvenated form, she tells me about her ethos of absolute purification. 

I observe Carrie's meditation along with a pre-recorded tape, assisting her here and there. In broad terms, we exchange our feelings about our bodies, our senses of control, our discipline. If the show demonstrates anything, it's that capitalism is disabling. This character has gone so far in her pursuit of a capitalist portrait of 'perfect health' that she has completely extracted herself from society and from life. 

The wall to my left is decorated with close-up polaroids of parts of Carrie's body. I feel strangely emotional, looking at it. What, for Carrie, is a meticulous document of her 'progress' is also a love letter. It's a judgement-less archive of attention. One of the piece's greatest strengths is Murray's performance. I liked hanging out with her; I didn't want to leave. I wanted a hit of her vape.

You're Needy (sounds frustrating) is about consumption in multiple ways: it's about eating, buying, needing. It's a wry tragedy of self-isolation with a grieving heart. 

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You're Needy (sounds frustrating), Summerhall, until 26 Aug @ various times (30mins), £12