Firstly the venue: what a delight this coated wooden and corrugated iron area is. Nestled across the nook from the Arcola’s predominant constructing, it exudes a cool, spacious atmosphere. Having established itself final 12 months, it has reopened for the summer time.
Now to the play: Rainer is a bicycle supply rider by day and aspiring author by night time. If that feels like a troublesome gig, she zips round London having adventures on her bike – which she has named Jean Rhys – in a approach that makes the lives of zero-hours staff appear enviable. She stumbles on to throbbing dance flooring, into vogue events and is obtainable threesomes, all whereas delivering pizzas and pies throughout town. However quickly we uncover that Rainer, who's telling us her story, is an unreliable narrator.
What seems to be a feverish and generally manic narrative is born of Rainer’s despair – there are secrets and techniques to her psychological meltdown which we solely uncover on the finish. Energetically directed by Nico Rao Pimparé,her monologue is a rollercoaster, turning loops and taking some thrilling turns.
As a wannabe novelist, Rainer talks in stunning, rhapsodising sentences, and the playwright, Max Wilkinson, has clear expertise for wordsmithery. “London spreads out like Bladerunner” earlier than Rainer and the “sky throbs purple”. The place this script may have sounded fairly purple itself, it stays on the precise aspect of lyricism on the entire. At occasions it appears to get carried away by its personal writerly brilliance although, and feels unruly and self-conscious. May this protagonist, in truth, be named after Rainer Maria Rilke, the Austrian author famed for his profound prose and poetry? If that's the case, isn’t that fairly heavy-handed?
Nonetheless, the consequences of Wilkinson’s heady writing, which incorporates some sparks of satire (so good we want for extra of them), together with an astonishing efficiency from Sorcha Kennedy as Rainer – kinetic or meditative, simply because the temper and her a number of characters require it – makes for an thrilling theatrical expertise.
Typically the plot feels far-fetched, even inside the bounds of Rainer’s unreliable narration. The writing has clear indicators of brilliance and daring however wants sharper modifying. Jamie Platt’s lighting and Jethro Cooke’s sound design are fabulous. Kennedy’s efficiency is a bravura one. We have to observe these numerous and ample skills.
At Arcola Exterior, London, till 18 June
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