★★★★★
Entering the auditorium is like going into a yoga class. Gentle music plays in the background, aromatherapy oils waft through the doors and a woman wearing a turban is sitting cross legged, meditating. The show also ends like this. But an awful lot that is worth seeing happens during the intervening 50 minutes. Natasha addresses the highs and lows of being bipolar, drawing on her own real-life story in this hilarious but heart-wrenching solo production.
The show is an adaptation of former Coronation Street actor Natasha Rea’s Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda (The Journals of a Happy Soul With a Chaotic Mind) and it’s great to see Natasha translate her experience from the page to the stage, it creates an immediacy and a raw truth of what it’s like to be bipolar, but also a living, breathing vibrant human being. It’s no wonder that she is an Ambassador for Bipolar UK, the leading Bipolar charity. We are lucky to have her representing our community.
Of course, it’s a very emotional performance that leaves many audience members in tears throughout the show. For me it was when she talked about feeling that she was a bad Mum to her young son because of her behaviour due to bipolar. It just struck a chord but as Brenda said to me after the show, the fact that you question whether you are a good enough Mum shows that you are. So that was reassuring! I wonder if my children would agree?
Natasha’s tagline for the show is ‘as much fun as you could have learning about bipolar without having to shit yourself in Tesco’, and I agree wholeheartedly. If you missed this year’s show, we hope Natasha Rea will be back at the Edinburgh Fringe next year, perhaps with an even better show (if that is possible.) Go and see her whenever and wherever you get the chance.
Review by Iona Erskine
