Energetic show – but what was going on? (From Daily Echo)

Energetic show – but what was going on?

10:32am Thursday 23rd April 2009 in

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THE Art of Catastrophe tells the tale of a woman trapped in a dull marriage who suddenly discovers her husband is having an affair.

It’s a one-woman show that is carried off surprisingly well given there are half a dozen characters in a play that lasts a little over an hour.

Rachel Blackman is particularly talented at jumping between the characters of the sullen, frumpy wife Helen and the vibrant, giggly woman her husband is seeing secretly on the side.

The play itself is a minimalist piece of modern theatre which uses just a chair as a prop. But what it lacks in stage furniture and other actors it makes up for with Rachel’s relentless energy.

At one stage she delivers an entire monologue standing on her head before gracefully getting back on her feet.

In another scene she throws herself around the stage to music in a fashion that would not look out of place in a Prodigy video.

I’m still not entirely sure what was going on in several scenes, in particular the relevance of the strip club scene. And if I’m honest I didn’t enjoy it that much.

There were too many abstract parts for me which left me wondering what was going on. But having said that my girlfriend and a couple of loud women in the front row absolutely loved it.

ART OF CATASTROPHE, NUFFIELD THEATRE