Steal Compass, Drive North, Disappear, @ Zoo Southside

Hit the North

Feature by Missy Lorelei | 24 Aug 2011

God, we humans are idiots: slack-jawed; lusty, venal, self-regarding parasites with no clue what we’re really doing.

Rachel Blackman knows this only too well. Her one-woman show , utilising mime, dance and confessional monologue, deals with the things we should but don’t say and how this screws up lives.  These little vignettes from comedic to tragic straddle the globe, hence the title.


And when Blackman hits, she hits hard- whether parodying the patronising nonsense spouted by art establishment types, as with her gleefully pompous female artists ( “men are drawn to women in pain-you’ll learn that soon enough”) or playing Martin, a gutless man who kinda, sorta, can’t tell his wife is mistress is pregnant- she is a true chameleon.


But the real K.O. is delivered when she reads aloud a letter which reveals in graphic detail the torture of a small child held in captivity- there is a palpable tension in the room.  Her eye is so clear and characterisation so well-judged, it’s testament to her ability to seamlessly tightrope from high drama to belly laughs.


She dances like a dream too, playfully punctuating each scene with a sway, ass-shake or lindy-hop, depending on the character. This intimate, if unsettling, slice of modern malaise, is tender as a bruise - or embrace.

Zoo Southside

until 28 Aug 2011, 4pm

 

http://stillpointtheatre.co.uk/