Love Me or I’ll Kill Myself

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VENUE: ZOO Playground

TIME: 4:50pm – 5:50pm, 5–28

Aug, not 10, 16

Toxic masculinity, toxic positivity and toxic love – this is the cheery trio of issues brought to the forefront in Faith Brandon’s autobiographical Love Me or I’ll Kill Myself. Detailing her doomed relationship with the elusive Juan, Brandon shows how all three of these toxicities manage to have such a chokehold on her, exploring what can go wrong when you hear what you want to hear and ignore the parade of red flags thrown up by the person you think is ‘The One’.

Using examples from love songs and television (Brandon really spills the tea about Sex and the City’s ultimate ick, Mr Big), she deep dives into the restrictive concept of relying on just one person to make us happy in life. In one second funny – Brandon is a master of physicality and has her comic timing on point – in the next tragic, Love Me or I’ll Kill Myself veers dizzyingly from her deliberately overwrought heartbroken-by-Juan persona to a very real, very raw person who just wants to know why she’s been treated so badly.

Brandon breaks fourth wall after fourth wall as she dips into psychologist Arthur Aron’s romantic experiment, The 36 Questions That Lead to Love and tries to coax an audience member into falling for her. Through these specific questions, Brandon depicts exactly how she went from open-hearted and excited to finding herself in one of the darkest places she could be. It’s irreverent, it’s hopeful, it’s darkly funny: Love Me or I’ll Kill Myself is ultimately a balm for anyone who’s ever been a little bit crazy in love. ✏︎ Kirstyn

Smith

VENUE: Assembly George Square Studios

TIME: 2:15pm – 3:15pm, 3–29

Aug, not 10, 16, 23

The first full-length play directed by Nicole Ansari-Cox, made by her company Actors Rising Productions, delves into the personal stories of a diverse group of women laying themselves bare on stage. In a multimedia performance that explores a wide range of topics, including identity, parent-child relationships and drug abuse, the cast share their feminine experiences from different perspectives.

Premiering in New York in 2021, She/Her adapts for each location it’s set in, with each local cast member co-writing their own monologues together with Ansari-Cox. It’s a collaborative take on storytelling that allows individual experiences to be told within a collective space of female solidarity and empathy. The cast members each anchor their story in a universal theme, such as love and connection, making it relatable and giving it integrity in their own voice. Interweaving live music and movement with monologues adds pace and variety to a show that aims to promote healing through art.

Performances are uneven and some stories are more gripping than others, but they all share a vulnerability and authenticity that binds them, the performers and, ultimately, the audience together. She/Her is a polished, original production by women sharing their hopes, fears and truths. ✏︎ Veronica

Finlay