Theatre / helena middleton
Review: Sink, Wardrobe Theatre
This one-woman show, written by performer Olivia Emden and the Wardrobe Ensemble’s Helena Middleton, is an efficient piece of kitchen- (or bathroom-) sink drama that descends a little too far into soapy melodrama for its own good.
On a bleak bathroom set consisting of a few scattered toiletries, an old mirror and the eponymous sink, Emden’s Julia prepares for a speech at a family event, possibly a funeral, which few people are expected to attend. Dressed girlishly in what looks like a pregnancy smock, the adult Julia seems to be trapped in a state of arrested development, tottering childishly around the stage, pulling faces in the mirror to make herself laugh, biting her lip when emotions become difficult.
The reasons for this odd persona soon become clear as she relates the tale of her overly protective mother, Anna, to whom she is still fiercely loving and loyal. As the present-day Julia tells her story, Emden jumps between the two characters as they were during Julia’s childhood.
Mother Anna jumps almost equally abruptly between genuine love and warmth for her daughter and bouts of extreme, jealous anger at any sign that Julia may grow up and leave: a nicely non-judgmental portrayal of a frightened woman who cannot understand the effect of her actions. Julia is played with a less nuanced, all-trusting sweetness and naivety.
The piece is well-crafted and performed, with an increasingly fractured soundtrack by Jack Dewry that jumps uneasily between sombre piano melody, distorted electronic sounds and the odd snatch of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’. There are a few original touches to add intrigue: Julia’s escape into her mother’s teenage diaries, for example, which detail romantic and emotional adventures of the sort she cannot have, helps to highlight just how trapped and desperate her character is.
But in general the duo are painted in brush strokes a little too broad and flat to really convince. The result feels somewhat contrived and, despite her spirited performance, Emden fails to pull us fully into the maelstrom with her.
Sink concludes at the Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol tonight (Friday 7 November). For more information and to book tickets, visit http://thewardrobetheatre.com/#/sink/4585609452
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