Delivering an electric shock to the senses

THE past few years have seen an explosion in gig theatre – a mash-up of live music, performance and storytelling. Whether it’s a growing trend that will keep on growing, a movement, or a bandwagon that will fall by the wayside as soon as something else comes along, only time will tell.

But as a means of getting younger audiences along to the theatre it certainly seems to be working, and there are plenty of examples to be found at this year’s Fringe.

Wildcard Theatre Company’s Electrolyte, by James Meteyard, is a pulsating, powerful exploration of psychoses, loss and friendship, set in Leeds and London – an electric, and electronica-fuelled, shock to the senses.

A fast-paced rites of passage tale, it finds wannabe artist Jess (Olivia Sweeney) sick of Leeds and her ‘team’ of mates, who all seem to be heading in different directions – getting married, moving abroad – leaving her feeling even more isolated than she already does.

Looming heavily over the mood swings of this up-for-anything party girl is her father’s recent suicide, an event that only contributes to the suffocating claustrophobia she feels enveloping her.

Narrating her inner and outer journey in rap rhymes and song against a backdrop comprised of only the musical instruments on stage, Jess finds some cathartic release and a beacon of hope in the music of singer-songwriter Allie Touch (Maimuna Memon, pictured) who is moving in a straight line, heading for the bright lights of London.

Jess soon follows suit, in a quest to find her mother that escalates in ever-increasing spirals of desperation as we follow her trail from the streets and nightclubs of Leeds to a grimy London council estate to finally a warehouse rave, which sees her come to the end of the road in more ways than one.

As an exploration of mental illness, Electrolyte packs an emotional punch that could floor Tyson Fury. I saw more than one audience member wipe away a tear at the end.

The breaking down of the fourth wall from time to time invites the audience even deeper into the story, while Miss Menon’s music and lyrics are a treat, and the live soundtrack of house, jazz, drum ’n’ bass, folk and rock forms an essential component of the energy of the piece.

The supporting cast of friends provide ballast through the mania on show – but it’s Sweeney’s towering, swaggering performance that really catches the eye and ear here.

Pleasance Courtyard until Aug 27