[Find Some Room For Broken Hearted Lovers]
Take a stroll down Lonely Avenue to Heartbreak Lodge on the Q Theatre, the most recent artistic enterprise by Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken.
It’s exhausting to know what to anticipate while you arrive on the Heartbreak Lodge. When our hotelier and host (Karin McCracken) comes on stage in a bedazzled lilac swimsuit, backed by a hemisphere of LED panels and grounded by Barbie pink carpet, we’re undecided if we’re about to observe a courting present or be preached to by a love guru.
So, it’s finest to set expectations apart as a result of the Heartbreak Lodge is a model new formulation for mending a damaged coronary heart and discovering love once more.
Off the bat, McCracken will get our blood flowing with a number of laughs. Her witty, deadpan humour by no means misses a beat as she lets us know the ins and outs of our keep right here; there will probably be humour and heartache, however most significantly, the soundtrack to go along with it.
The evening’s first track is the present’s namesake, Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Lodge’. Each music and vocals are carried out by McCraken, who artfully makes use of the synthesiser to decelerate and reverb this 50’s basic.
On paper, it shouldn’t work, however the unhurried rhythm encourages us to ponder the themes of distress and heartache embedded in what had been as soon as rock’n’roll lyrics. The subdued, emotional rave unfolding on stage finds a visible counterpart within the dynamic mild present enjoying within the background and seamlessly unites your entire set.
Whereas we settle in for the evening, McCracken should journey by the perils of a damaged coronary heart. The trail by heartbreak is just not linear. Our heroine should navigate ahead as they date new folks whereas additionally reconciling her previous relationship along with her ex-boyfriend of six years.
These scenes are enhanced by Simon Leary, who performs a carousel of characters as McCracken’s Tinder date, physician, finest good friend, and ex-boyfriend. The pair have a fascinating chemistry throughout all eventualities; their portrayal of an anxious/avoidant relationship is especially notable in its realism, providing an eye-opening expertise for anybody who has ever discovered themselves trapped in the same dynamic.
Interspersed within the emotional journey are science classes exploring why heartbreak feels so bloody terrible. McCracken had the viewers howling along with her musical retelling of how, after a breakup, the hormones in our physique actually do their finest to mess us up.
Nevertheless, with all these components circulating, Heartbreak Lodge bleeds on the edges. Leary is an electrical addition, however at occasions his presence felt like a compelled try to offer him extra stage time (the inclusion of Leary performing Elvis-esque dance strikes is considerably superfluous). With a hearty 90-minute run time the present’s construction turns into barely arrhythmic, needing to do extra to warrant a two-person forged. We ponder the potential for the present to evolve, contemplating the potential for a one-woman manufacturing or a extra profound exploration into the 2 sides of a relationship.
However, put together to giggle, cry, and be completely entertained on the Heartbreak Lodge; its music-comedy concoction is the right treatment for a damaged coronary heart.
Heartbreak Lodge performs on the Q Theatre from the twenty eighth of November to the 2nd of December 2023.
