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theSpace @ Niddry Street – Studio
A playful (and ever so cathartic) dark comedy that questions the boundaries of unconditional love versus self-respect.Summary
Rating
Good
A friend in need is a friend indeed, so when Tina (Alexandra Ricou) is abandoned at the altar by her fiancé Matt, best friend Lola (Rachelle Grubb) takes matters (rather literally) into her own hands.
We find the two girls in a moonlit marshland, busy moving a visibly heavy body bag. Lola is wearing a smart black suit and Tina a white wedding dress soiled with large blood stains. Suffering from dissociative amnesia, the latter doesn’t seem to accept that inside the bag is the lifeless body of her beloved Matt, whose head she’d smashed against the sink only hours before – following the painful discovery that he’d bailed out on their wedding day in favour of a holiday to Greece. But what’s done is done and fortunately Lola seems to have a plan to conceal the corpse before the arrival of the police.
Whilst digging a makeshift grave with inadequately sized gardening tools, well-known topics of dysfunctional parenthood and demeaning relationships also get unearthed, with disillusioned Lola trying all sorts of arguments to debunk Tina’s steadfast belief in the happily ever after. We feel sorry for the wronged bride, but we also secretly agree with Lola’s judgement that her friend is a tad unintelligent. An awkward laughter from the audience often follows the honest but painful truths delivered with the punchlines. Surely, many of us have, at least once, turned a blind eye to the partner’s disrespectful behaviour for fear of losing them.
A few jump scares are used to keep us engaged where the overall lack of physical action would have otherwise caused more than one mind to wander off. This is where an extra body on the director’s seat – a role in this occasion covered by playwright/producer Emilie Biason – would have added an extra gear to a well-written comedy, which safely delivers pressing topics as well as quality entertainment.
Written and Directed by: Emilie Biason
Produced by: Dear Dark
I Killed My Ex plays at EdFringe ’23 until 19 August, 5:20pm at The Space @ Niddry Street. Further information and bookings here.
