An imaginative journey through one woman’s struggle of self-acceptance
Hole was originally written and performed by Hannah Morrish at Jermyn Street Theatre in May 2021. This new production, running at the Old Red Lion Theatre until 22nd June, is performed and produced by Central School of Speech and Drama trained Matsume Kai, and directed by David Fairs and Conor O’Kane (co-founders of critically-acclaimed theatre company Golem!).
Adapted slightly to include some Japanese language in dialogue, and replacing a speech from Antigone with the song ‘Once Upon a Dream’, this production on the whole remains true to Morrish’s original script, and is all the better for it.
The writing is deeply descriptive, vivid and immersive – paired with excellent sound, stage, and lighting design from Fairs and O’Kane, this 75 minute show takes its audience on a visually and emotionally involving journey through the character Hole’s (Kai) battle with binge eating disorder, and is one of the most creative depictions of experiences with mental health that I have seen in a long time.
The Old Red Lion’s intimate theatre is perfect for the production, and various mannequin parts strewn around the minimal set already make the subject matter – alienation from the physical body – abundantly clear from the outset. A newsreel-esque voiceover introduction opens the show, listing statistics illustrating the rise of eating disorders among both young women and men.
Kai is a dynamic and emotive presence as she moves about the stage as Hole, illustrating her hunger, her emptiness, her battle with desire and the futile interventions of all those around her who try to help. Suddenly, a child appears – a luminous and mysterious presence who acts as a guide as Hole journeys down into herself to discover where this emptiness is coming from – to see if she can try to stop the ‘leak’ she thinks there must be somewhere.
Three small black boxes are manipulated to brilliant effect to convey Hole’s strenuous journey deeper down, layer after layer – Rebecca Joy Wilson’s choreography and movement direction here conjures each scene up almost tangibly for the audience.
Hole meets various versions of herself – some that fill her with awe but unease, some that frighten, some that repel and disgust. Through each layer, Kai’s acting is creative and involving. She makes the audience feel, equally, Hole’s fear, loathing, guilt, disgust, disappointment and ultimately acceptance of herself.
This is an important and engaging piece of theatre, which again raises the question: what is it about women’s appetites that we seem to find so repellant?