Created by HotCat Collective
Review by Eve Nugent
Four housemates tiptoe around each other. Never overstep, overshare, offend – eating in private, nosebleeds in private, thinking in private. PING! Another out-of-date, slightly sour microwave meal is de-clingfilmed and devoured. Milk is spoiled, spilt, spat. Skin is picked, poked, pulled.
Navigating underpaid jobs and no hot water, empty cupboards and thin walls, the nameless characters seem to suffocate under the weight of economic instability, victims to an unjust financial system that leaves the younger generation struggling to find their footing while feeling increasingly out of control – all told through mesmerising movement alongside what feels like spoken word poetry. Through the gritty script and erratic dance, the feeling of inertia bleeds into the desperation to move and change. Yet what begins as grim and gruelling gradually flourishes into something more tender: a group of people learning to look out for one another, discovering that they can share the burden of hardship and, in doing so, alleviate some of the shame.
Quietly developing an ant colony, the house’s most reclusive resident Amanda Pang opens the show, liquid mercury as she dances. As she exits, Esther Carr enters who embodies an anxious fidgeter, constantly twitching and scratching, yet her lines occasionally need more projection to fill the auditorium. Magdalena Lacey-Hughes is, begrudgingly, a barista, embodying well the exhaustion of an unwanted job that never seems to end. The final flatmate is played by Tiggy Jones who champions the ensemble with their immense physical and rhythmic control.
HotCat Collective, queer dance-theatre group from Oxford, return to the Fringe with their debut show Stop Playing Jacob’s Ladder with My Spine, an absurdist exploration of oppressive social expectation within a domestic setting. No frills, no fakery – this show depicts real struggle through abstract means. Whilst the script would benefit from fleshing out with dialogue to explore the connection between characters, this is a promising production with a talented cast.
Talented Cast
Stop Playing Jacob’s Ladder with My Spine runs Venue 82, Studio at ZOO Southside at 21:35
Running time – Fifty minutes
Review by Eve Nugent (contact@corrblimey.uk)
An undergraduate French student at the University of Edinburgh, Eve has a diverse interest in theatre and performance. Her primary devotion is acting, predominantly at Bedlam Theatre with her fellow students, but also with French group ‘Les Escogriffes’ who perform annually at the French Institute of Scotland.
Her creative attention stretches also to classical music, as she enjoys playing the flute, piano and guitar. She thus looks forward to watching whatever the Fringe has to offer, irrespective of genre!
