A riveting monologue spinning a web of light and dark
Toni is on her first ever date, giddy with equal parts teenage love and McDonald’s milkshake. But then: disaster strikes. Thrown into flux, she grapples to rebuild her life, understand how her sense of being has changed, and move forward.
To hold an audience’s attention for 90 minutes with a single monologue is no mean feat, requiring compelling writing and enrapturing performance. Tarantula adeptly accomplishes both: Philip Ridley’s writing captures the wide-eyed naivety of youth, and the gasping desperation of suffering, with equal dexterity; and Georgie Henley as Toni can tell so much story in a single, flickering facial expression.
Originally staged online during the 2021 COVID lockdown, Tarantula’s live premier is a potent example of the evocativeness of live theatre. Toni’s gripping monologue astutely captures the everyday highs and lows of life, and the sudden earth-shattering effect a single moment can have. The audience roots for Toni from the butterflies of a first kiss, to the gut-punch of trauma and (maybe, hopefully?) recovery.
Henley is familiar to many as Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe film series, and she channels that bubbling excitement and innocence into Toni. There is much more to her character than wide-eyed naivety, however, and Henley’s transformation from childhood star to commanding stage actor is on full display, showing a depth and maturity that elevate her performance. With a single crack of her voice, Henley can make the temperature of the room drop several degrees. Case in point: a lighthearted mimicry of a bird-call slowly morphs into a deep, visceral moan.
Toni is a dynamic, relatable character it’s easy to root for: even in her darkest moments, there are flashes of the optimism and zest for life she shows in the opening scenes. Henley’s use of the stage is effective, whether zipping amidst the audience with nervous energy, or cringing beneath a spotlight as the world closes in around her. She snaps between characters – and their accents, mannerisms, posture – with incredible speed, bringing a real dynamism to the performance. There are a few more flubbed lines than expected, which are recovered though repetition of the script as intended. At times, this breaks emotional immersion, but Henley is so compelling it’s perhaps easier to forgive than it should be.
Such a powerful performance is facilitated by a clever script which authentically captures how people exist in relationship with the world. Effective use of call-back delivers some of the funniest lines, and also ensures the specter of trauma is never far from the audience’s (and Toni’s) mind. This is a script of nuance, leaving the audience to wonder how much of Toni’s “getting over it” is genuine and how much is a mask, adding simmering tension to later scenes.
Most strikingly, Tarantula is confident in its execution. It makes wonderful use of the awkward silence, and the minimalist staging lends a searing intensity to the production: when a change in lighting does occur, it really matters. With no props or soundtrack, and few costumes, the narrative relies purely on the actor, the audience, and the story—and it’s profoundly impactful.
Tarantula is on-stage storytelling at its purest, centering a compelling narrative of experiencing trauma, attempts to overcome it, and the fingerprints it leaves on your soul. Exceptional acting, astutely observed writing, and masterful staging unite into a powerful piece of theatre.
Tarantula plays at the Arcola Theatre Monday-Saturday until 25th January, with Saturday matinees. Tickets can be purchased here.