Garland sets fourth an unwavering theatrical statement in Primal Bog, a show which slices normativity, disembowels commodified self-care and celebrates our inner filth.
Writer/performer Rosa Garland walks naked onto a white canvas covered stage. The front row of audience are clad in bright-orange waterproof ponchos, the splash zone for the inevitable deluge conjured in Primal Bog, a show that is both enduringly memorable and yet exquisitely indescribable. Following a highly acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025, Garland has now taken residence upstairs at Soho Theatre, a highly intimate venue for a highly intimate piece.
Primal Bog speaks to our inner most urges, a swamp of shame that represents unsaid attractions and pushed-down taboos within ourselves. Through mime, monologue, lip-sync and performance art, Garland navigates these ideas through a plethora of theatrical forms, sometimes metaphorically alluding to these themes, but more often firing them at the audience through shockingly on-the-nose antics.
Garland has stated that this work is inspired by a personal journey through queer intimacy and psychosexual therapy. She says that she wants audiences to “dive into the strangest and most liberating ride of their lives- to embrace curiosity, tenderness, playfulness and even flippancy with our bodies”.
We meet the character of PB, an unafraid and shameless being who is obsessed with worms, canoeing and Gwyneth Paltrow, and it is through their eyes that this strange narrative unfurls. Garland plays this character with real heart, her facial expressions speaking a thousand words, often whilst her body is shouting something totally the opposite. There is a real innocence to the character, as if they are discovering this world of filth for the first time, and the audience are quickly drawn to the warmth that they assert. PB also enjoys other things including slime, which they cover themselves with frequently, Sean Bean who makes several cameos throughout, and videos of toxic masochistic men on the internet, which PB encourages us to watch alongside them. There is a lot of playful energy in the piece, which Garland delivers with real passion. A lip-sync love ballad delivered towards the end of the piece both hilarious and cathartic, and there are some great gags in which you can feel Garland’s comedy chops ringing loud and clear.
The more ‘shocking’ elements of the piece are vibrantly imagined, but there is also a great deal of nuance here. As fearlessly generous with her own body as Garland is, the real vulnerability of the performance lies in subtle choices she makes; her eyes flickering between audience members, or the way she holds her body when watching a video of Gweneth Palto’s skin routine. There’s a beautifully written monologue in which Garland talks to an unseen partner, stating all the things she’d like them to do together, Garland lying face-down on the floor, the words being interrupted by snippets of video which dissect the monologue in very thought-provoking ways. Throughout Primal Bog, Garland breaks traditional forms and continuously adds layers of muck, as though the performance itself is struggling to come to terms with its true identity.
There is real dirt here. It’s in your face and laid bare, and Garland never shies away from it, she lingers there and asks, “why not?”. However, the thrills and splashes of Primal Bog are only heightened further when the conversely melancholic and downbeat episodes play out, and Garland expertly treads the line between them. Primal Bog is far more than the sum of its parts and clearly the work of a master of their craft. A brilliantly imagined work that will speak to anyone who has ever felt unable to explore their inner urges.
Primal Bog is running from 25th February to 7th March at Soho Theatre. For more information, visit here.