one4review | On 20, Aug 2013

****

Haley McGee gives a compelling performance in her own darkly comic, violent and complex drama as a young woman who has a strange and disturbing appearance. Her hair has a wild look; her large glasses have been taped because at some time the frame has been broken; her T-shirt is spattered with blood and her legs below her shorts are cut and bruised.

Bit by bit we discover who Irma was and her relationship to the young woman. She died several weeks earlier in a pool of blood, her throat having been cut. The young woman is on a quest to find out about the circumstances leading up to Irma’s death. Was it murder or suicide? This leads her to the flat of PP whose shirt Irma was wearing at the time of her death. Revelations follow as she and PP talk about Irma and his connection to her.

Haley McGee skilfully varies the pacing going from high energy to slowly drawn out descriptive sequences. The whole effect is to suck you ever deeper into a shocking story and to reveal why the young woman appears as she does. The play does have 16+ suitability rating and is not for the squeamish.

Reviewed by Ben

Hill Street Theatre; 41

1 to 25 August 2013 (not 13)

18.45 – 19.45

Fringe Programme Page Number: 307