Love The Sinner – The Studio, Edinburgh

Approaching the end of a one month tour of Scotland’s finest smaller theatres, this gem of the spoken word is certainly getting to the well-polished stage. Expertly, co-produced with Vanishing Point, writer and performer Imogen Stirling simply oozes confidence and assuredness as she births every beautifully crafted line. The shame is that they whizz by at such a rate they barely have time to flower into fully formed life. Like snow on the river, white for a moment, then gone forever.

Through a series of flawed characters, representing the seven deadly sins, Stirling’s prose expertly coaxes and cajoles us through the drowned streets of the river city. It has rained for days. Our unlikely hero is Sloth, who reluctantly rises from her quilted fort of bedroom stagnation only when it gets too wet to remain. Her destination is Gluttony’s house party.

Two towering (high rise flats) light stacks frame the narrator who stands on a glassy reflective apron,  the river, which features heavily. To one side on keyboards is Sonia Killman, who subtly but effectively provides live music accompaniment and additional voice. Although Stirling is clearly the focus, this very much feels like a partnership of minds and voices, which when they come together are hauntingly beautiful.

The lighting design by Simon Wilkinson is stunning, one of the undoubted stars of this show and it pulses, shimmers and floods in perfect sync with the narrative, colour choices bringing alive Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Lust and finally pulsating angry red Wrath.

Stirling’s monologue is dreamy, sometimes nightmarish. Sins are on the rise, with the easy access to online pornography, and influencers and social media pushing you one way then the other at every turn. The continuous rain is akin to the pounding on the door of the electronic world that surrounds and threatens to drown us.

Thought provoking, bursting with ideas and beautifully conceived this is a show of performance poetry which will appeal to a wide audience, who will all take something different from it.

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 1^st October 2024

North West End UK Rating:

Running time – 1Hrs 10mins (with no interval)