Mustard @ The Arch at Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh SA 15/2/2023
The Fringe is back at the Holden Street Theatres in Hindmarsh. The small theatres they are a Fringe wonder and everyone should experience at least one show each year of the Fringe at Holden Street, if not more.
Mustard is a one woman show, presented by Irish playwright Eva O’Connor. It is a dark comedy about heartbreak, madness and condiments.
The build-up of the first half is all about love and sex. Eva meets the man of her dreams; a rich professional cyclist and the sex is wonderful. But of course, it cannot last and in the second half of the play Eva plummets into a black hole of heartbreak at the speed of a doped-up cycle team in the tour de France.
Eva’s delivery is full of rich descriptive words and metaphors. It’s as if she has a saying about everything. “I tightrope through a supermarket like an alcoholic” is one example, “love hits in the pubic bone like a train” another. Her expressive face can light up the room or carry the audience to sadness or anger with her.
The show is staged with just a few simple props. An inflatable child’s pool, a clothes line, some towels and a bucket of water. E alludes to the condiment, mustard many times during the performance but it would be giving it away if it is explained what happens with mustard.
Mustard is a compelling tale of sex, love and rejection. As E says during the show about the condiment mustard, “The searing yellow pain and the shame of it”
The shame would be if you miss this electrifying performance of Mustard.
Fringe Review By Geoff Jenke
For tickets and show information for Mustard head to FringeTix