Eleanor Hill is back in her home town of Greenwich to show her people the award she won at her month-long stint at the Edinburgh Fringe and the show that she won it with, writes Michael Holland.
Sad-Vents is pretty much an action replay of the realities of mental health and trauma that has become a part of her life, and how she deals with it. Or not.
I saw the show last year at the White Bear in Kennington and loved it, and I think it would be good for others to not only experience Eleanor’s life by proxy but also to have a good time watching it.
Eleanor’s idea of theatre is not like others. No ushers will be marching around the auditorium with signs warning people not to take photographs. Ms Hill absolutely embraces photography at her performances. She encourages the audience to ‘Bring your phones, take pictures, record videos, live stream the whole thing if you like!’ She has become her own Insta photo.
Sad-Vents is performed as a livestream for the world as the audience watches from just metres away. You can even interact with her online as it happens. She is the show within a show within a show.
Her lived despair is cut through with dark humour, but Sad-Vents is not an easy watch. It is, nevertheless, an important play to see.
She forewarns Sad-Vents being ‘Not for the fainthearted… Memes, messages and music collide with a series of monologues so close to my actual life you could just be reading my diary… Be prepared for DM sliding, TikTok dancing, social stalking and endless oversharing.’ Ultimately, Eleanor Hill poses the question about social media: ‘Do we consume it or does it consume us?’
But while imploring people to ‘Follow me on inst @sadventsplay’, Ms Hill also warns of suicide, drug abuse, self-harm, bereavement, rape, depression, abuse, trauma, blood, cannibalism, porn, murder and anxiety but remember, it is actually a comedy’.
Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, SE10. 10th & 11th October. 7.30pm.
Admission: £12/£10
