Femme Fatigue 5***** - One4Review
one4review | On 22, Aug 2024
Inside a wee yurt near Potterrow the city is crawling with the world. Channel 4 writer Ella Evans is performing a delicate yet hilarious monologue about post viral chronic fatigue. Ironically, I am writing this from my own sick bed so here goes:
Like most lively and successful femme queer creatures, Ella’s character Sasha’s life starts off fulfilling, creative and busy in London. Until one day she is sucked away from this vibrancy and finds herself back in the attic of her childhood home in rural Devon.
Mum looms over her every 5 minutes, dad is preoccupied with his own interests but makes those (un)helpful suggestions like “take more iron tablets” and her sister is there too, because she still lives at home.
Ella shows us the inner workings and malfunctions of a mind that is being affected by chronic fatigue. While Sasha painfully adapts to her new life as it is now, she longs for more adventures and so desperately turns to the internet for a cure. This is something that is so relatable for a lot of people with chronic fatigue.
One of the positives of COVID-19 is that there is now more attention being placed on those who suffer from chronic fatigue. I know many people whose lives were once footloose and fancy free, only for it to be taken into a life of stagnation by a virus. Ella’s performance is a perfect balance of comedy and storytelling. Her writing is animated, introducing us to very silly and eccentric small town characters as well as presenting the struggles of one queer woman’s experience with chronic fatigue.
A hilariously poignant and relevant performance.
Not long until this performance ends, go see Ella!
*****
Reviewed by Jen
Hoots @ Potterrow – Wee Yurt
19.55 (1hr)
Until 25th August
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