River Time! is a 50 minute one-person theatre show, focused on story-telling.
Performer Laura Thurlow weaves a mesmerising tale of Ophelia, Virginia Woolf, and Laura’s own life. The result is a fascinating insight into how women’s experiences endure across time.
Beginning with some worrying tales of dating in contemporary London, Thurlow paints a bleak picture for anyone looking for love in the big city.
There are some very funny lines in this section of the production, and it’s clear that a strong band of friends is essential to guide the reluctantly single through disastrous dates.
Thurlow also sprinkles the narrative with anecdotes drawn from the reality of living with ADHD. For Thurlow, this also manifests in Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria. It’s her coping mechanism for this condition that inspires the title for this show.
‘River Time’s refers to how Thurlow calms her mind. Previously a student at Edinburgh, late night walks along the Water of Leith became a part of her routine.
Thurlow believes that the water calls to her, as it called to Ophelia and Woolf.
The show transitions to discussions on each of these women. Acknowledging that Ophelia is fictional, Thurlow also highlights that Ophelia was never in a position where she could ‘win’.
Thurlow contrasts this with mention of Taylor Swift, and recent speculation that she may quit her career to become a ‘Football Wife’ – as if this is the only thing that she, and any other independently successful woman has ever been supposed to have wanted to be.
What Thurlow is highlighting here is the uncomfortable truth that women have a tendency to wrap any stories they tell about themselves around the men in their lives.
When we talk of our experiences, we make ourselves secondary characters, as if our own wants and desires play second fiddle to that of the men who have chosen us.
We move onto Woolf, and all the things she achieved. It’s made clear that she only defeated the sexism if the day because she had a husband, Leonard Woolf, who not only supported her, but championed her.
Thurlow typifies Woolf’s writing as consisting of ‘lengthy passages of crowded thoughts’. It’s an observation that also applies to this show. Thurlow still draws us in, as we yearn to see where the story ends.
It ends, as it does for Ophelia and Woolf, in tragedy. In women unable to express their wants to others, going down to the river and allowing the darkness to consume them.
Thurlow displays immense vulnerability in this production, openly talking about what she wants, and why. It’s a superb performance, and Thurlow is a warm story-weaver. You absolutely feel that you’d go for a drink with her in the pub, to set the world to rights. Just make sure you definitively invite her to be there.
River Time! continues at Greenside @ Riddles Court, Pickle Studio (Venue 16) at 1.45pm (13:45) until August 24th (not 18th)
Featured Image Credit: S L Evans
