DANCE
In Her Shadows
Traverse, Edinburgh
Mary Brennan
THREE STARS
Perhaps you’ve seen the recent pictures? The ones of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meeting young people who were willing to do what many would still consider unthinkable: speak openly about their mental health problems. The Royal encounter brought high-profile focus to the stigma that still clings to mental illness, however at an everyday level – until the end of October – the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is giving creative voice to the challenges, the misrepresentations and support networks that underpin facts and fictions about mental health issues.
In Her Shadows – a touring co-production by A Blank Canvas and Jabuti Theatre, directed by Cora Bissett – is a graphic plunge into one woman’s depression. When Amy comes home after working abroad, her sense of family rejection is so profound, it fills her mind with self doubt and traps her in a bubble of corrosive negativity. The set– a semi-dome of white canvas – effectively corrals the performers/co-creators Debbie Robbins and Rachael Macintyre in that “bubble”.
As torrents of words and monochrome line drawings spatter across the canvas, these two sides of Amy use aerial work – silks, ropes, a hoop-trapeze – to give visual, physical expression to a mind in the throes of depression. It’s a bold choice, but somehow while the aerial skills on show do capture our attention it’s in their own right, rather than as a metaphor for being caught, suspended, by the harness of mental illness. What really sparks, is the voiced-over poem by Jenny Lindsay that instances the therapy tactic of rating each day on a 1 to 10 scale. Her mercurial words, echoed in the dance sequences (choreographed by Ethelinda Lashley), resonate with hopes, glooms and defiant grit – a bravura end to a valiant show.
Touring details at www.mhfestival.com
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