Torch is an all too relatable look at what it's like to be a woman in the 21st century. Beginning in a nightclub, the audience is introduced to the show's protagonist, a cheeky everywoman who is pushing 30 but clinging to the memories of her youth. It is those memories which the audience is made privy to throughout the course of the show, and which endear her to her audience.
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| Photo credit - Richard Lakos |
The dialogue crackles with a combination of brutal honesty, matter of factness with just a hint of regret ebbing in at times. The scenes build slowly, as the audience is drawn into the protagonist's life story before exploding with aptly interspersed musical numbers during which performer Jess Mabel Jones demonstrates thrilling vocals. Particularly notable numbers such as Lady Gaga's The Edge of Glory and Sia's Chandelier are poised to receive their own round of applause, and leave the audience hungering for more musical interjections.
The production design of Torch is also particularly noteworthy, as the concert-esque lighting, glitter filled balloons and use of a hand held mic for musical numbers makes the show feel like more of a gig than a play, and further electrify the show's already buzzing atmosphere.
Riotously fun but simultaneously melancholic, Phoebe Eclair-Powell's Torch is a glossy, gloriously rousing new piece of theatre, performed characterfully by Jess Mabel Jones, whose remarkably likability and versatility really brings the piece to life.
Catch Torch at Underbelly Cowgate at 8:50pm every day until 28th August.
