EAT ME- Manipulate Festival 2022.

credit Mihaela Bodlovic.

Last night I attended Snap Elastic’s performance of EAT ME which is part of the Manipulate Festival programme.

Snap Elastic is a Scottish female- led theatre company who have a passion to make art that is silly, joyful, dark and challenging to name a few. Their production of EAT ME most certainly fell into those last two categories. The actors were present in the space from the minute the audience entered the auditorium to take their seats and this immediately drew us into the world of the performance.

The performance follows Prey, Predator and Man. We follow Prey as she divulges to Man that she wants to be eaten… literally. From this moment on, Man and Prey enter the Dark Web and come across Predator who is willing to eat Prey. The plot was enticing and very different to any other performance I had experienced recently. The underlying themes of these unorthodox relationships and power shifts between these characters were arresting.

Ian Cameron, Isy Sharman and Claire Eliza Wiloughby created a very tight ensemble and all worked incredibly well together on stage. All of the performers' energy and presence was palpable and their storytelling skills were great.

Movement was imperative to this piece and the quality of movement was subtle but worked very well. The use of performance space was excellent, it was a feast for the eyes as visually there was so much going on and always something different to pay attention to. One scene that stood out for me was near the end of the performance which was a chase sequence and this was executed so well.

The score used in the performance was eery and chilling, throughout the performance there was varying sounds such as heart beats and these were followed by atmospheric music which kept the audience on their toes wondering what twist the story might take next. At the end of the performance there was a song which was operatic and it was the perfect fit for the climax that the audience are waiting for.

EAT ME is a dark and challenging piece of theatre created by Snap Elastic. It is bold and something new for audiences to enjoy. There are many other performances to catch at the Manipulate Festival until the 5th of February.