Review: Dazzling, Etcetera Theatre

The set is a mess. As in that species of student and/or teen mess you immediately recognise and sort of forgive: clothes strewn across the floor, the bottles and glasses detritus of a boozy existence, scattered artfully about the Etcetera Theatre’s perfectly proportioned black box. The mess is augmented by a white sheet hanging on the back wall daubed with graffiti-like slogans of struggle and survival.

From the bed – or bedclothes nest – of this wilfully squalid environment rises Alix (Charli Scott-Haynes) to tell her story. It’s a perhaps unremarkable narrative exploring friendships and romantic love, but if it’s not breaking any moulds it is certainly documenting a common and relatable experience with commendable skill, charm and nuance.

This being a one-person show, the skills of that one person are crucial, and with Scott-Haynes we are indeed in very safe hands. With her gangly frame and black ‘n’ white hairdo, she is an extremely likeable host and has our attention and sympathies from the outset. She’s supported by Holly Sewell’s assured script, which is never less than interesting and often delightfully playful – I loved the line about Alix giving a narwhal a run for their money in the horny stakes. Viv Wang directs with unshowy skill, and the production is a great fit for The Etcetera’s intimate space.

Plot-wise, we have Alix meeting the alluring Fiona, which kickstarts a narrative that involves love triangles, the nature of queerness and the attendant mental health issues that seem to disproportionately trouble those of us who discover we don’t belong to the tribe of the “Norm”. This is an area of inclusion that definitely deserves exploring, and Sewell does so with thoughtful nuggets of insight as Alix negotiates her progress through the play.

Inhabiting multiple characters including Fiona, her best pal and others, Scott-Haynes fleshes out Sewell’s words with deftness and an appealing confidence, and ably conveys the occasionally more poetic interludes with none of the awkward theatricality that a lesser performer might. We’re always on Alix’s side, and Scott-Haynes carries us along with her for the show’s duration.

I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned life really is a messy business, and sometimes it’s simply reassuring to have that acknowledged, and to know that we’re not alone in the strange untidiness of our shared humanity.

Written by: Holly Sewell
Directed by: Viv Wang

Dazzling plays at Etcetera Theatre until 16 December. Further information and bookings can be found here.