Review: The Forgettory

Tracey Crisp bookmarks her show with four themes: insomnia, birth, death and dementia. Each theme has a corresponding symbolic prop which Crisp unpacks from a cardboard box. In the insomnia section she downs glasses of wine in Abu Dhabi to cope with her grief-induced sleeplessness. She sits in an armchair with an unopened bottle of riesling and a glass on the table next to her. This staging feels a little static; Crisp doesn't directly interact with the wine on the table which adds to the disconnection.

Crisp is also a funeral celebrant, and the delivery style she uses for much of the show is reminiscent of the flat public speaking which comes with the role. Here it does her written words a disservice though, because it detracts from the candid emotional vulnerability of what is being said.

Even so, Crisp does well when she shakes off this delivery style and instead uses wry one-liners to convey her fondness for departed family members and the messiness of adult life. It would be good to see her expand on these portions of the show a little more.