[voiceovers] Georgie Lagden (Violet de Loutherbergh), Bernice Leigh (doctor / guitar writer and performer).
“From the moment I first met him, I knew Dashiell Park would kill my mother”.
Nova is finding her early 20’s a difficult time. She has been talking to herself and repeatedly listening to a voicemail from her mum. “Hi Nova, it’s me; I’ve tried calling you a couple of times and you haven’t picked up …”
Her mother has died suddenly and while there is no chance to undo the past, she is scrutinising it, looking for memory glitches. Things have been said, things have been done and perhaps she is to blame.
Her feelings of emptiness and emotional anguish all point to a severe bout of loneliness – a support network would help, but Nova’s relationship with her family is difficult, distant with those who should be nearest and dearest and reduced to some cousins whom, at best, she doesn’t particularly like.
Seemingly irritable and unfiltered she struggles to know whether she is doing the right thing, making the right choices, being good at being a human being.
Life’s adventure is not what she expected.
This one-woman show is a darkly comedic yet affecting look at relationships, grief, guilt, growing up and letting go.
The writing is intelligent and insightful with an interesting composition and the piece is slickly acted and directed.
There is perhaps yet more emotional depth to be drawn from it, but in this young company’s debut performance they have produced something that is beyond their years.
Show Times: 4-12 August 2023 at 10.10am
Tickets: £10 (£7.50) (£7 family).
Suitability: 14+ (Contains distressing or potentially triggering themes, strong language/swearing)