one4review | On 10, Aug 2024

I LOVED this show. Paulina Lenoir plays the character of ‘Puella Eterna’, a flamenco styled performance poet with a deranged look in her eye. She will take you from birth to death in 52 minutes. The first 8 minutes needed a bit of set up including casting her mother by draping an audience member with silicone breasts.

This show is tightly worked, Paulina Lenoir has complete control of the room which allowed for things to go off the rails in the best ways. It is a very interactive show in which she builds a codependent relationship with the audience. This entails everything from breastfeeding her to building a recipe for love, and giving career advice. She is an expressive clown who manages a lot with a pointed glare, but also uses her words sparingly and powerfully. I laughed a lot throughout. It’s a show that very much has its cake and eats it when it comes to simultaneously celebrating and satirizing performance art.

She highlights the absurd in universal life experiences, If you’ve ever played hide and seek with a toddler, struggled to work out what your job actually is, or pondered what you want to do before you die it’s easy to relate.

It also looks beautiful. Paulina’s background as a designer shines through the artful display of costumes draped around the stage. Puella moves through life changing from one perfectly pouffed head bow and sheer ruffled confection to the next. The essence of the character’s style which is flamenco dancer meets haute couture is applied to each stage of life from a babys bonnet to an old lady nightgown supporting the cradle to grave narrative arc whilst always looking chic. The accumulation of lines she draws all over her face as she ‘wants to have wrinkles before she dies’ is oddly poignant.

As I’ve already said, I absolutely loved this show. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if an absurdist fashion clown sounds like your bag then you’re in for a real treat.

*****
Reviewed by Sarah
Assembly Roxy – Downstairs
22.00 (1hr)
Until 25th Aug (not 12 or 19)