Slim for Life
Oh, Lily, oh Lily you don’t feel safe, you feel like life has blown a great big hole in you; having broken up with her boyfriend, a reinvention is in order, pointed in the direction of Slim for Life, where the greeting is strange and the vibe is off, the eccentric gathering seeming to know about her but failing to introduce themselves, the confident blonde in the towering scarlet heels and matching red satin blouse explaining that “we prefer confessions.”
Their obsessive quirks bordering on rituals, the head of their chapter referred to as “the Dark Lord,” Lily had hoped for a supportive environment but instead is increasingly concerned that this is apparently to be yet another patriarchy which counts the sins of eating biscuits, a cult to which she has apparently been initiated, determined to see it through but dubious.
Starring Charlotte Thompson as Lily alongside Annie Swift, Jordan Starling, Perdita Lawton, Joseph Palmer and Amanda Jeffrey as Beatrix, Morticia, Blaise, Percy and the narrator, Slim for Life is a manic hour of the predictable and the unexpected, the late appearance of writer and director Oliver Gallagher as the Dark Lord (or “Daddy” as he likes to be called) signposted from the outset but not what was anticipated, nor the twist, though his presence prompts it.
The script scattershot and the performances variable, maybe unavoidable on opening night for a show which was almost pulled from under them, the characters of Slim for Life are nevertheless distinct in their disorders which come together in a distressing chorus line, the show all over the place but oddly entertaining as chairs are reorganised and tables turned, the Bringer of Light brightening any party but Lily’s trump card taking the biscuit.
Slim for Life continues at the Studio at theSpace on Niddry Street until Saturday 15th August
