★★★★
Every now and again, a character comes onto the stage that you’re immediately enraptured by. Róisín is fast-talking, honest and funny with a vulnerability that shimmers. That she lets slip that her father was murdered in the first few minutes, should be enough to alienate the audience, and send us grasping for firmer ground. Kat Woods writing and direction is deftly controlled that the topics of restorative justice, grief and depression are explored in a way that the audience are held before they are confronted.
Emily Tracey’s performance is tautly calibrated that the emotional journey is visceral. Róisín’s battle with the 8am scramble for a G.P appointment becomes an epic set-piece, and leads her to meeting a Personal Trainer who has served prison time.
The AuDHD lens is what gives the play its depth. For Róisín is so direct in her approach to something that others seem to shy away from. The play reminds me of James Graham’s Punch, another piece about restorative justice, but NON HUMAN ANIMAL succeeds where Graham simply skims the surface. In its final moments, there is a devastating speech that encapsulates the paradox of forgiveness, and whether it frees you or those who’ve harmed your family.
NON HUMAN ANIMAL is on at Billiard Room at Gilded Balloon Teviot until August 31st
