Evelyn | Get Your Coats On

“Elena Guitti (as Evelyn) brings an extraordinary depth and clarity to the ordinary humdrum in this satire of daily life and routine.”

Daily life sucks. So many things to wipe, dust, dry, and so forth. Too little time to do it all in. Plus, there’s the whole… you know… finding meaning in a seemingly vast and incomprehensible universe to be getting on with. Our protagonist, Evelyn, emerges onto the stage from inside of a washing machine. Cramped, hot, bothered, she is relentlessly bombarded by external noise which confuses without comforting.

Elena Guitti (as Evelyn) brings an extraordinary depth and clarity to the ordinary humdrum in this satire of daily life and routine. Guitti is the Artistic Director of Piccolo Teatro Libero, in Brescia, Lombardy. There she is at the centre of a vibrant cultural community space and respected theatre school which give this (undeniably) out there production a rooted and grounded feeling.

The show is written and directed by the storied and storytelling Giacomo Gamba, the versatile Italian actor, director, playwright, and teacher whose work blends movement, storytelling, and visual theatre. Gamba has created several award-winning productions such as ‘Petrol’ (2012) which won First Prize at the Valleyfield International Festival in Montreal, Canada, before landing at EdFringe16. This year’s show showcases movement and physicality that looks and feels like how humans look and feel. There is none of the uniform, artificial camp which dominates the mainstream. By the time Evelyn gets back in her washing machine, we have been on a journey into ourselves and back again.

Here is Fringe theatre doing what it is supposed to do. Challenging yet always engaging. Visual by visibly pushing ordinary boundaries. Here is a confident stride down a highend catwalk to who can tell exactly where. Here is a paced and pacy production that is as tight a use of the time as I am guessing Guitti finds the fit inside her domestic appliance. Come for a piece of physical theatre that is not afraid to be entertaining. Stay for a masterclass from some of the best and the brightest in the sector. Get your tabàros on and go see this!