This taut drama about memory gets lost in its own confusion
There was a crash, that much Eva (Shona Graham) knows. She also knows she was involved, and that it caused her significant brain damage. But she doesn’t know much else. Shona Graham’s debut play explores memory’s fragility, and asks whether there are some things we’d rather forget altogether.
Fractured opens with a brain-damaged teenager being cross-examined, mixing up her words under scrutiny. Her interrogator (Samantha Kalnins-Wright) looms in and out of the audience, making great use of the dark auditorium to ramp up the tension and draw us in like a thriller. Eva’s responses quickly fade into hallucinations and misplaced memories as a consequence of her brain damage. People float onto and off stage out of the darkness, effectively discombobulating the narrative. Unfortunately, many of these scenes tell less compelling stories, and I found myself willing for a return to the interrogation scene and its taut intensity.
Fractured is at times too willing to sacrifice narrative coherence in its treatment of memory loss. This is meant to be a confusing timeline for Eva, and by extension the audience, but that shouldn’t preclude a satisfying payoff. Ironically, in pursuing this sense of confusion the play renders itself less memorable. One particular scene early on with Eva’s mother is still a mystery to me; and whilst I think I know how the show ends, I couldn’t swear to it. There’s a gulf between compelling intrigue and frustrating incoherence, which Fractured fails to bridge.
Samantha Kalnins-Wright is a high point, although all the cast are strong. She delights both as the stern, demanding interrogator distorted through the lens of Eva’s brain damage; and as Eva’s rigid, mithering mother. A truly magnetic onstage presence.
Fractured gets a lot right: its tense opening, effective use of space, and decent cast. But ultimately it gets too caught up in capturing memory loss to maintain a coherent narrative or deliver a satisfying conclusion to Eva’s story.
Show Listing: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/fractured
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Venue: Underbelly Cowgate
Dates: Aug 5th–30th (excl. 18th)
Time: 12:50 (60 mins)
Ticket prices: £10.50–£16
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / www.edfringe.com
Suitable for 12+
Just watched this play — I found it gripping and unsettling. I also found the ending entirely clear … and the chaotic, disparate episodes added together to give an entirely clear narrative, so I can only disagree with this reviews final verdict.
Thanks for sharing! One of the best things about theatre is how everyone experiences it differently.