Self Criticism Review - The Camden Fringe

rating: 4

Another trip to The Camden Fringe Festival, this time to see Constanza Hola€™s new work Self Criticism, playing now at The Camden Head. Hola€™s work looks to analyze contemporary representations of woman, and she ambitiously deals with these issues in her witty and entertaining writing. Hola imbues her writing with themes of betrayal, jealousy and sexual attraction; in the hands of many other writers this could become messy and un-managed, but Hola subtly plays with these themes throughout the play. I did feel that Hola€™s inclusion of a popular Queen song as a recurring motive was perhaps not needed, but only since her themes were already being expressed so strongly through her writing and direction. Cornelia Baumann and Sarah Jayne-Harris do a good job of holding the stage pretty much between them for the whole act. They play off each other well, fooling around with the social archetypes that Hola explores in her script. Hola not only writes but also directs this production, and makes good use of the minilalist and nicely plays with body positioning. With her movement director Sebastian Concha, Hola creates a very graceful production. Constanza Hola€™s Self Criticism is thematically ambitious, interesting and witty. Aided by a strong cast, this is surely a treat of the Camden Fringe. Self Criticism is playing at The Camden Head until Sunday 12th August, than moves on to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.