“After the earthquake, it’s the aftershock that kills you,” sings composer/performer Jay Eddy in this one-person musical theatre show about the maelstrom of self-blame, intrusive thoughts and panic attacks that followed years of sexual assault. Not to mention the victim blaming and jokes that they were “pulling a Jay” every time they “overshared” about their trauma. (That particular joker became their lover and artistic partner in EPs Theater, the team behind the show.)
Although certain motifs become laboured in places and the dark, deadpan delivery sometimes zooms into a dizzy fast-forward, Eddy brings us all as passengers through the wild ride from rage and alienation to moments of bliss. Their message about the need for connection hits even harder following raw descriptions of dissociation and anger which ultimately led to them having seizures. Eddy wrote the riot-grrrl, grunge, art pop album of tracks for the show; their confessional folk rock calls to mind PJ Harvey’s emotional intensity, with theatrically unhinged flashes of Hedwig and the Angry Inch or Kylie in her Nick Cave era. Usually it’s about the journey, not the destination, but this fraught journey comes with a welcome dose of indie-weird and drops us somewhere where the views end up being pretty great.
Driving in Circles, Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 1.30pm