"...a convincing and hypnotically compelling performance by Anna Westlake ... an unusual, diligently performed piece of theatre magic."
Arthur Duncan, Remote Goat
"...a sort of Canterbury Tales for the Ecstasy generation ... a pungent atmosphere of one of youth culture's most extreme and hedonistic byways ... Helen K. Parker's 'For Real Love' was another success. Somewhere in the rave's darker, quieter corners, a savvy, neon-wigged teenager (Anna Westlake) nursed her friend (Francesca Wraith) as the latter shivered, dry-heaved and generally looked close to death. The relationship between these two was nicely, troublingly ambiguous: at times Westlake would cradle the head of her friend, at times she seemed strangely indifferent to her fate, even (with reference to a spiked drink) to have caused it. All sorts of troubling insights here, about how the unbounded hedonism of a rave could, despite appearing to be the ultimate human communion, really be a series of individuals all pursuing their own selfish (and possibly destructive) ends."
Steve Wright, Venue
"...a moving, thought-provoking piece of theatre..."
Vivienne Kennedy, Guide to Bristol
In July and August 2011 I joined Bristol-based theatre company Darkstuff Productions for their latest 'Eddie King' project, this time set against the backdrop of an early '90s warehouse rave. A promenade performance set in the Tobacco Factory Theatre's atmospheric space and featuring five interweaving monologues by local writers, this was an opportunity for audiences to get up-close and personal with a very specific cultural moment, and explore some of the unique stories that moment inspired.
My monologue was in fact essentially a duologue - working with fellow actor Francesca Wraith, I played a girl looking after her mute, drugged friend after she collapses in the middle of the rave. As the monologue progresses, however, the veneer of upbeat friendliness falls away, revealing a much more sinister reality...
Following two successful Eddie King events Darkstuff Productions returns to the Tobacco Factory Theatre with a whole new twist in the tale and a host of delightfully dark monologues. A night of new writing from Simon Harvey-Williams, Phil John, Gill Kirk, David Lane and Helen Parker, inspired by the euphoria-driven age of Rave. An age arguably the last great social happening of the Twentieth Century - an age before Facebook. The Acid Generation. Were you there? Are the memories stirring? Did Eddie King, that famous everyperson, overdo on the little pills and fry his brain?
Whether you're a veteran raver, someone who wasn't there the first time around, or an intrepid theatre explorer, come plumb the depths of a dizzyingly exhilarating era without the morning-after headache. This is not a rave. This is a night to remember.
