Gush – Traverse Theatre
There is something quietly exacting about a one person show. It is an island, really, a contained territory where there is nowhere to hide, no supporting architecture of cast to lean on. If it works, it approaches a kind of theatrical purity. If it does not, it is exposed within minutes. I admit, I am a sucker for the form.Gush, written by Jess Brodie and directed by Becky Hope Palmer, comes close to that sense of honed perfection.At its centre is a single performer, Jessica Hardwick, who carries the entire evening with considerable control and, at times, something approaching virtuosity. She moves deftly between roles, voices and emotional registers, and if there is a hierarchy within that, it is clear that her articulation of the female experience is where the piece truly finds its voice...