Sacré Blue

Zoe Murtagh has anxiety. About work, about tunnels, about the prospect of a Conservative government for another four years. In this charming and very open piece of autobiographical storytelling, she opens up about the triggers, symptoms and possible remedies for her panic attacks, using personal experience to think through a shockingly widespread problem.

Murtagh’s show has a deceptively breezy, quirky surface – her stage is crossed by a washing line hung with props and costume, and her chatty, sing-song demeanor is like listening to a rambling but riveting conversation down the pub. At one point, we’re given a comprehensive synopsis of the David Bowie film Labyrinth in the service of an eventually-reached metaphor.

You’d be forgiven for writing this off as pure whimsy at times. But there is real rigour and research beneath it – as well as a willingness to go to dark places. The performer outlines some of the science behind panic, and enacts cognitive behavioral therapy exercises to demonstrate how we can listen to our bodies’ reactions to anxiety without letting them snowball and get worse.

There’s definitely work to be done on structure here – some of the storytelling sections are a little narratively unclear, and the show is topped off with a call to revolution that doesn’t quite feel earned yet, but this is a passionate, considered solo show about mental health. It would do particularly well in an educational context, but surely has a life after Edinburgh wherever Murtagh hopes to take it.