Hole, Royal Court Theatre review ★★★★★

In Hole at the Royal Court, award-winning theatre company RashDash and debut playwright Ellie Kendrick violently rally against perceptions of womanhood. The show bullishly tackles the patriarchy and how it affects women’s lives, merging this universal female oppression with ideas on the universe itself.

Royal Court Young Writers’ programme graduate Ellie Kendrick (known for her role as Meera Read in Game of Thrones) has written a non-linear and abstracted piece. Metaphors of atoms, particles and black holes swirl around the shape-shifting performers, capturing the female experience throughout history and beyond.

Music, dance, stage-fighting and an ever-changing set transport the audience to a mythical world where these women have been living deep underground for two thousand years. Now they have broken out onto the surface. They are here, they are angry and they are ready to feed on anything that crosses their path. High-octane energy blasts out from this six strong female cast. They sing, scream, and scamper across the stage, applying every last drop of dynamism to their voices and bodies.

There are moments of taut, muscular writing, with visceral descriptions of how these creature-like performers will physically attack the audience. Playwright Kendrick subtly accentuates that when these words come from women’s mouths they are deemed discordant and provocative, yet when they come from men’s mouths, they are commonplace and even expected.

The show practises what it preaches, employing an all female creative team and cast. A wild, garish set and costume design has been expertly crafted by the talented Cécile Tremolieres, working in tandem with an ever-morphing lighting design by Katharine Williams. There is one particularly dazzling moment where costume and lighting design perfectly align to illustrate the act of looking and how particles (and women) can scatter when they are unwillingly gazed upon.

Directed by RashDash’s co-founders Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen, the production does feel a little reckless and dashed off. There is a laxity in the show’s focus; with some more time in the rehearsal room the show could fulfil its potential of being a slick and profound production.