Review: Rattled
Rachel Harper is a force of nature in Rattled.
Barely taking a breath, Harper performs an intense and personal monologue as Emma, a young woman we meet having a very bad moment on the edge of a train platform. Emma has found an 
abandoned baby, and desperately waiting for help from anyone else at the station, she begins to pour her heart out to the child, revealing fear and grief and a difficult family history.
There are laughs here. Thank goodness. Harper’s writing is sharp and her stream of consciousness contains a lot of lines that are meant to provoke laughs from the clowny Emma, and some jokes that come at the expense of this young woman.
Rattled – a misfit on the edge
While Harper is always 100% Emma, Emma occasionally acts out a few of the characters she has met in her past, and at those moments you almost wish her acting was a bit sloppier, more in tune with the tightly wound, hoodie-d misfit she has created.
Jemma Gross directs her perfectly; there is not a moment of wasted time or energy. Rattled is exhausting to watch as you care about this fragile soul, you are drawn in emotionally as the theatre space is small and you are very close to Harper the entire time. You can feel her frenzy. Who’s child that is?… well, that’s not really the point, more pressing is what will happen to him, and his mother.
You don’t have to be a parent to enjoy, well, feel each moment of this intense hour, but if you are, the producers have made it easy.
In an effort to make theatre a more accessible and welcoming space for parents with young children, Missmanaged Theatre have teamed up with the Bea & Co. creative child care agency, to provide FREE childcare for two hours to parents attending the Sunday matinee performances of Rattled. They say, “we have a special, cosy area in the theatre reserved just for the children, so whilst you’re seeing a brilliant new play and having a drink after with your friends, your kids will be downstairs having their own day-out.”
Can’t beat that. Check the website for more details.
See Rachel Harper in her award-nominated performance in Rattled through Saturday, March 2.
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A former ABC National, Dallas and Atlanta radio personality, Martina O'Boyle is now making movies and covering culture in London, Dublin, and as far in Europe as the cheapie flights will take her, for Pop Culture Beast.