Theatre Review: "Interrupting A Crisis" is a colourful and sparkly take on mental health
Last Tuesday night, I had the privilege of going on a journey into the mind of Georgina Cramond (aka RIBS) at her one-woman show Interrupting a Crisis directed by Finn O’Branagain at The Blue Room Theatre.
Photo by David Cox
I knew this was going to be a story about anxiety, which had me feeling, if I’m honest, a little anxious. But once Cramond opened the show with her title song, I felt the warmth and ease that comes from having a conversation with someone who wears their heart on their sleeve. This unbarred and vulnerable honesty underpins the whole show, which is about Cramond’s experience with anxiety and panic attacks, and how she used music as a way to deal with them.
Anxiety is a prickly, jarring thing, but Interrupting a Crisis tells its story in a smooth and elegant way. Beginning with her first panic attack, Cramond cleverly uses improvisation to gracefully transition across time and place on The Blue Room’s intimate stage.
Threaded throughout the show are Cramond’s original songs. Her voice is sweet and folky and her music and look remind me of Kate Nash. Each song serves as a story within a story, with clever and incredibly truthful lyrics that allow the audience to share in the cathartic powers that music has had for Cramond.
The set design is neat. The standout aspect is the projection of hand made animations created by Clare Testoni. These images really help to evoke the feelings of anxiety that Cramond is talking about, taking her storytelling to another level. Thanks to Georgina Cramond’s bravery, Interrupting a Crisis is a colourful, sparkly and fabulous piece of theatre about a human experience that is anything but.
"Interrupting A Crisis" is currently showing at The Blue Room Theatre til June 3rd
Need more convincing? Check out our interview with Georgina here, and while you're at it, listen to this sneak peek of a song she will be performing in the play, "Violet":
