Review by Sophie Wilby
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Following a sold-out two-night script reading at The Other Palace in 2022, Emily Jupp’s one-woman play Wormholes is brought to the stage of The Omnibus Theatre. This 65-minute one-woman show is set within a mental health facility, represented by an empty stage, painted blue, against a blue backdrop. The woman (Victoria Yeates) is being interviewed by faceless, voiceless individuals who appear to be questioning her about her past, giving the sense of a police interrogation. As the play unfolds, her responses to their implied questioning leads her to revealing the details of an abusive relationship that ended in disaster and potentially, tragedy. The ending of the play, and therefore her story, is deliberately unclear to reflect her struggle with memory loss. From the situation that she is in, we can assume that something terrible has happened but we are left somewhat in the dark as to how her story led her to being interviewed in a mental facility.
The woman, who is essentially unnamed (which will make sense upon watching), is an incredibly compelling character. She is so sympathetic that much of her dialogue pulls on your heartstrings so intensely that you almost feel compelled to hug her. Almost immediately within the play, you want to help her. But part of what makes this feeling so strong is not solely out of pity, or a desire to help, but a genuine warmth and feeling that this person could be your friend. She is so likeable. She is witty and clever, strong and caring, passionate and kind. There is so much depth to her character which, when combined with a vagueness around her exact identity, reinforces what I interpreted as the message that her story can happen to anyone. There is no singular mould of a woman who may fall victim to such an abusive relationship. She is not downtrodden, before the relationship her life seems happy and stable, but Emily Jupp shows us how slowly and calculatedly a relationship can turn and destroy any sense of happiness or stability that there once was.
You can see where her story is going as she begins to tell it, but that makes it no less impactful. Instead, it only serves to increase this feeling that you want to dramatically intervene. You can see all the times when you wish that someone could have helped, could have said, or done the right thing at the right moment. And in a way, it is this predictability of the story that makes it feel so painful. It is a story we’ve likely heard before, at least in part. It is behaviours we’ve heard about, patterns we’ve been warned about, and yet you still have to watch it unfold. It is this realism of the piece that makes it painful.
The title of the play is taken from the two metaphors used throughout the play. The first is the way that the parasitic Guinea-Worm lives within a host. Initially undetected, but eventually causing extreme pain and damage before exiting the body. The second, is the idea of parallel universes or wormholes to different existences, when different decisions were made and different outcomes reached. If there is a criticism to be made, then it is that perhaps these were a little overdone at times, particularly in moments where the mention of either the parasitic worm or wormholes felt unnecessary. This was probably done to portray the instability of the woman’s mind, but as her recollections are so clearly and coherently told, it is slightly jarring. These moments too, sometimes came quite quickly after a poignant moment which detracted from them a little, making it feel rushed. A slightly slower pace here would have heightened the emotion from some of the dialogue although again, I can see how this was intended to reflect an uneasy mind.
A script such as this with such real, poignant, and heavy themes needs the right actress. And Victoria Yeates was undoubtedly the right actress. She delivers a powerhouse of a performance. The rise and fall of her emotions, often quickly flitting from the joy of recalling a fond memory to the pain of her present reality, is so well executed. You quite simply cannot take your eyes off her. Her ability to command the stage and hold the attention of the whole room was mesmerizing. Direction by Scott Le Crass is responsible for this too, particularly in the dramatic usage of physical theatre towards the end of the play which is successful in how unnerving and impactful it is. This moment too, is cleverly framed by Jodie Underwood’s lighting direction to increase the impact.
It wouldn’t be fitting to describe Wormholes as an enjoyable experience, but nor is it unenjoyable. It is more simply, an experience and a very necessary one. So much of violence against women is reduced to statistics - cold, hard numbers that still paint a worrying picture, but which come with a level of detachment too. Emily Jupp humanises these stories. There is a face to the story and a face to the figures. The woman is somehow simultaneously an everyman figure as well as an independent and unique character, whose confident, outgoing personality is slowly but surely squashed by the relationship that they are in. This journey is impressively conveyed in such a short run time, and it is a real strength of Emily Jupp’s writing that we quickly understand who this woman was before, during, and now after this abusive relationship. In the promotion of the play, she discusses working with the domestic violence charity Refuge to do this story justice and that level of care and emotional investment is clear. So too is the emotion that Victoria Yeates brings to this performance with her impeccable delivery.
This is not a show for someone yearning for the easy escapism that theatre can so often provide, but it is an important one. The more conversations that are had, the more that these stories are brought from the shadows, can only ever be a good thing and I applaud Emily Jupp for doing just that with her words.
Wormholes plays at the Omnibus Theatre until August 10th
For tickets and information visit https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/wormholes/
Photos by Rob Greig
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