Disobedient invitation to shout at the world
MEAT
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 28 August JJJJ
Written and performed by Elle Dillonreams, MEAT is a lesson in saying “no”. It is an invitation to shout at the world. It is a note of permission, and it tears up the rulebook. MEAT is perfectly disobedient.
Combining theatre, poetry, clowning, cabaret and dance, this piece observes the life of one woman as she leaves behind the years of her girlhood, only to grapple with the numerous, unrealistic and often contradictory demands that are made of her, as she grows and enters into womanhood.
Dillon-reams’s character-work is impressive, and each character works to convey the very complicated, very acute feelings of self-consciousness that can come with having a growing body (a supermassive fear of maturing too quickly, for example – or of maturing in the “wrong” way).
The script is rhythmic, told mostly in rhyme. The piece features themes of disordered eating, which, since these behaviours indicate an investment in her own invisibility, are affecting. Dillonreams lip-syncs to original music – these sections are brilliantly executed – and in one particularly powerful scene, an incident involving sexual assault is figured via a stand-up routine.
Elements of audience interaction help to round out the shape of the piece. There is a sense of collectivity throughout – of being part of, and party to something bigger than the bunker that we share. However, the rules of engagement aren’t always clear, and while Dillon-reams is proficient at engaging with her audience, the line between her monologues and her dialogues with audience members could be more clearly defined.
In keeping with the ongoing nature of, and need for feminist politics and practices off-stage, MEAT refuses to resolve itself. So there is no happy ending. Not here. Or at least, not yet.
JOSEPHINE BALFOUR-OATTS