For some, birthdays are a time of celebration, for others, not so much! Our youth obsessed culture one that tends to ignore the value of wisdom accumulated amongst the years. Drawing on this societal norm in a one woman show Degenerate, this is not a test and Maria Teresa Creasey present the work in progress as part of this year’s Vault Festival.
Loosely drawing on the mythical phenomenon of the vampire, Creasey’s playful eye is apparent. A symbol many of us are familiar with, watching her clown around with this idea is fun, and one that could easily be explored further, however isn’t fully realised. Mention of reaching the milestone of 40 a vital conversation to be had on stage – Creasey not being able to vocalise the fact that that’s how old she is down the microphone a funny thing to observe.
A wish being granted of attaining invisibility – but this not at all playing out how she thought it would brilliantly plays into the notion of middle aged and older women being ignored and phased out, however this again could be weaved throughout the hour long performance more so. Creasey’s stage presence is undeniable, it’s clear to see that she enjoys every single moment on stage, and that’s infectious. Audience interactions are a fascinating way to make the evening more personable, anecdotes with the potential to endear but just in need of refining to make jokes a lot slicker.
Degenerate is a timely watch, a comedic way of exploring topics of sexism and ageism, however the show gets caught up in what it wants to do, I question whether this is a stand up piece or comedic play? So there needs to be a lot more clarity when it comes to this.
Written by Lucy Basaba.
Degenerate has its last performance on Sunday 19th February 2023. To find out more about the production, visit here…
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