Mark Ludmon 
With the audience sat and stood around three sides, the action regularly erupts off the stage, from projectile soiled sheets to splashes of murky toilet water. At 65 minutes, it moves along at a cracking and sometimes disorienting pace that leaves you staggering out of the theatre feeling like you’ve been assaulted (but in a good way).
Zinnie Harris’s How to Hold Your Breath is a perplexing play, but not necessarily in a bad way. With a shifting tone from comedy to horror, it takes you in different, unexpected directions so you never quite know where you are going or what is happening.
With an energetic and talented ensemble, the show gives the audience everything they came for, from the much-loved songs to comedy bordering on campness. You get inflatable sheep, singing camels and dancing Egyptians alongside musical pastiches with line-dancing cowboys, gospel choirs, calypso singers and Edith Piaf-style cabaret.
Merit has a timeless quality, examining themes relevant to any society going through economic upheaval. It also explores broader ideas such as our responsibilities towards others when money is short: Patricia questions Sofia’s decision to give to charity when people are losing their homes just as many people question whether countries in recession should continue to give aid to the developing world.
For both Joan and Ivy, their lives are about to change, even if they themselves cannot, but James Hogan leaves us with little hope that it will be a change for the better.
Cleverly and imaginatively crafted, Almost, Maine is a delightful show that will warm the coldest of hearts this winter.
There may be plenty of blood, guts and severed body parts but there is little reason to faint as audience members regularly did at the original Grand-Guignol. It is a darkly entertaining show, with the campness and broad comedy reminding us that the horror is just for fun.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.