Review: Freak, SPACE at PRSC

“Content warning: Strong language, partial nudity and scenes of a sensitive nature.”

Freak is the debut performance from Bullet Theatre, which was started by three women – all third-year students from Bristol University. Written by Anna Jordan, the play is highly comedic, relatable and sometimes shocking.

The play explores two different rhythms which women often experience at different points in their sex lives: a sense of empowerment through uninhibited promiscuity; and prudish puberty manifested in a yearning desire for womanhood.

Leah is 15; Georgie is 30. One is naive, curious, impressionable; the other desolate, lost and isolated. Both are in some way caught up in using the male gaze to validate their sense of self-worth. Casually or shockingly, from porn-star vaginas to strip clubs, Freak verbalises the unspoken salacious monologue which most of us experience alone in our bedrooms.

Their monologues intertwine, cutting over each other, bouncing the stage energy back and forth from within their separate narratives. From the safe space of their bedrooms they lay down their most innermost thoughts, baring intimate details in a conversational and hilarious manner and normalising what is usually left unspoken.

The language could be compared to that of an intimate diary, but it is well-written and inclusive, reeling the audience into the two characters’ minds.

Georgie’s strong presence is made clear as she struts around the stage, fire in her eyes and vulgarities rolling off her tongue. “The day starts brilliantly: I smoke fags out of the window, try on every piece of clothing I own, and see how many times I can cum during Homes Under the Hammer.” She drinks cheap wine and becomes a stripper in an attempt to regain control over her life.

Leah’s naivety breeds many entertaining lines: she tells us about her friends’ opinions on hair removal, sex and boys. She is self-absorbed: the classic teenager. Her ludicrous encounters with her boyfriend Luke leave the audience in stitches – a trip down memory lane for some, I’m sure.

The play draws attention to the men’s problematic attitude to sex, whilst simultaneously looking at how societal ideals affect women emotionally and influence their decisions.

Excellently written, directed and staged, these monologues provide the audience with a true sense of the two characters, without even having to change the set. All the action occurs in one room, a multi-faced girls’ bedroom.

Space at PRSC was decorated in a way that every young woman can relate to: beautiful women on magazine covers plastered the wall, fairy lights, coloured lamps, shopping bags, clothes strewn over the floor, an array of toiletries, forgotten pizza boxes, you name it.

Whilst the two confident leads in Ruth Wormington (Leah) and Thomy Lawson (Georgie) narrated their stories, four women danced around them, acting out their emotions. This technique vividly set the scene and the performance felt very organic and real.

By the end of the play, the connection between the two women is established and they come together. Through their support for one another the play stresses the importance and power of female relationships.

If you didn’t get a chance to catch Freak, Bullet Theatre are planning on taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe. Either way, this is a clearly a theatre company to watch.

Freak was staged at SPACE at PRSC on March 15 and 16. For more on Bullet Theatre, visit www.facebook.com/bullettheatrebristol

Read more: Review: The Cherry Orchard, Bristol Old Vic