Spine, Underbelly

By E.L.Hardy

Sometimes, in a place you'd least expect it, a piece of writing or performance slaps you sharply around the face. Theatre like this forces you to take a good look at yourself, forces you to think a little and forces you to care; the experience can, admittedly, be more exhausting than entertaining. There's something a bit leaky about the Underbelly that suits theatre such as this - anti-capitalist theatrical protests working their way into the public consciousness from underground, or otherwise hidden deep within the hyperactive and blinding surrounds of London's commercial West End.

Clara Brennan's Spine, ('urban' as it might be) could be one of the most hopeful and life affirming pieces you see at this year's festival. This is a one-woman show about knowledge, and giving power back to the people. It asks, what could potentially be passed down from generation to generation, if only we stopped for long enough to look beyond our prejudices - to see beyond age, gender or an angry disposition? I've rarely been so compelled by a character I presumed initially I would dislike. Nor have I been so seduced by coarse, angry language. Of course the lines are sprinkled with tantalising hooks, moments of breathtakingly vivid imagery. Poetry. But this monologue - candid, eloquent, accurate and rank - is, more than anything, real.

I don't know whose praises to sing more: Clara Brennan for her words, or Rosie Wyatt for her transformative performance as Amy - a "ferocious, wise-cracking teenager." Wyatt delivers the story at extreme pace and with a glorious sense of amazement (like a, what the fuck was I doing?!) that allows us to warm to the character, even as she crudely reveals the inner mechanisms of her love-starved life. It is the unlikely Glenda, vividly portrayed by Wyatt throughout the monologue, who sees a future for Amy regardless of her brittle, defensive exterior. This pensioner enlists the gobby East Londoner in the most peaceful of protests in order to save the younger, lost, self-hating generation from fermenting atop the Tory scrap heap.

I've nothing but admiration for those who have something to say and are passionate about doing so. Tangible urgency spills over into every one of Brennan's lines. Her compulsion to share this story with a like-minded audience has mind-blowing resonance here, in this dreary cave of dreams.

PS in short: Utterly brilliant. ★★★★★ Totally #UNBORING

Spine, by Clara Brennan

Underbelly Cowgate

Daily at 3.30pm

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