Breathless

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One-person plays about overcoming adversity are commonplace on the fringe – this year, you’ll find shows on cancer, dementia and crashing a bike – but actor Madeleine MacMahon performs engagingly as Sophie in a show that is as absorbing as it is sensitive. Its commitment to balancing humour and emotion means it's neither the funniest show out there or the most moving. To reveal a tiny snatch about myself, I had the sheer joy of performing with the Contemporary Dance Company, ‘Dancers Anonymous’ up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival back in 1978-1980. Related Posted by mysohotimes February 6, 2023 February 6, 2023 Posted in Theatre Tags: Breathless, Fashion, Hoarding, Laura Horton, Soho Theatre, Sustainable Fashion, What's On, What's on in Soho? Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site.

Macmahon morphs from character to character smoothly in the single-hander with just Holly Harbottle’s subtle sound design—breathlessness, crackling fire, wowing and more—in support, while moveable clothes rails, chair, coat hangers and a few items in a box are cleverly all that are needed en route to Sophie’s downfall, redemption and anticipated future.Written from her own life experience Laura Horton’s text is beautifully crafted so we walk beside Sophie learning about hoarding not as a prurient observer but as a sympathetic viewer, and judging by the knowing laughter in the auditorium, with recognition of behaviours which threaten to derail many of us. Based on Laura’s real-life experiences, the work is a dark, magical story about trying to escape a world you’ve spent a lifetime carefully building. When a 23-year-old Laura Horton came across a vintage Christian Dior pencil skirt, black and gold with deep pockets it seemed to be the perfect symbol for who she wanted to become, someone thin, stylish and successful, like the women she saw in Vouge or on Sex and the City. The single mother who was delighted to pick up an Isa Arfen dress she’d seen in a fashion magazine but never been able to afford. In her late 30s, she has a thoughtful, interesting new girlfriend, Jo, whom Sophie can envision as a long-term partner.

One is a podcast where I speak to different people who identify with hoarding behaviours and the other one it’s about encouraging people to share the stories of the clothes that they have, when they get rid of them, when they donate them to charity, or they sell them. The soundscape thoughtfully underscores the text (composer Ellie Showering, sound designer Holly Harbottle ) and the simple set design whisks you from sales room, to street, to childhood bedroom, to cluttered London flat share. They give you a little bit of financial support, but when I sat down and did the budget I realized I had to raise ten thousand pounds on top, to afford to be able to take the show and pay for accommodation for directors and actors. Horton describes herself as having been “on the knife-edge” of compulsive collecting, in denial for a long time because of media portrayals of the condition are so extreme. Breathless is a funny, honest and stylish exploration of the knife-edge of hoarding, from the joy to the addiction and suffocating shame.You can see her range clearly when she regularly steps into the multiple supporting characters, and in fact she seems much more comfortable when she’s playing the slightly lumbering, androgynous love-interest Jo. Similarly, whilst the bulk of the script explains Sophie’s issues via her nervous enthusiasm, allowing the audience to see for themselves that the clothes are a coping mechanism, the ending is a bit unnecessarily climactic and tidy, and takes away from the likelihood of the story. This shouldn't entirely overshadow the play's presentation of queerness, however, which also offers something rarely seen onstage.

But I had to crowd fund to pay the people involved, I didn’t pay for it myself, the producers didn’t get paid, well they did but a little bit of my own money! Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.Great Acting: Training Your Mind and Body to be Perceptive – Learning About Yourself and Your Surroundings. And then obviously Breathless is on ongoing, I produced the first version of that in Edinburgh, but now the Theatre Royal have taken that on, so I don’t have to worry about it. Her mild West Country accent works for the scenes with her Mum, who lives in Plymouth, and she uses other accents effectively for other characters. And so minimalist Jo enters her life, a perfect match in (almost) every way but fatally suspicious of Sophie’s Herculean efforts to stop her entering the flat as the two worlds collide with percussive results.

I really need to get someone else on board, but obviously I can’t afford to pay anyone, so it’s a bit of a difficult one, but it’s still there and it’s not something that I want to give up on. Played by Madeleine MacMahon, who gives her a nervous likability, Sophie would seem to have arrived at a joyous time in life. BREATHLESS: A Funny, Honest and Stylish Exploration Of Hoarding Comes to Edinburgh Fringe (broadwayworld. I had a few panicked moments, but once I got into it, it was lovely to realise these clothes would be worn, would have new life. Having moved from Plymouth to London to work she signed up to a notification from every sample sale in the city, organizing her freelance schedule around it.Ben Lyon-Ross, Head of Artist Development at Theatre Royal Plymouth said “Here at TRP we couldn’t be happier to be transferring BREATHLESS into the Soho Theatre, following its massive success at the Fringe last year.