This week the Alphabetti Theatre hosted two showings of ‘Sardines & Personal Best’; a double bill of two short one-woman plays exploring identity and life in your twenties.

Kicking off the night, Jude Nelson’s ‘Personal Best’ follows 25-year-old George as she is introduced to the world of fitness, all while dealing with her absent father, a gym crush, and a depressingly tedious job at a Mexican chain restaurant. We were surprised to learn that this was Nelson’s first time writing and performing her own work. The witty script and great comedic timing meant the audience were laughing throughout the whole show.

After an interval, Emily Ash came on to perform ‘Sardines’. Taking place during a particularly stressful night at her hospitality job, Ash’s quick-paced delivery invites you into the mind of her character Molly as she becomes increasingly flustered in her plans to enact revenge on her condescending manager. Cleverly written and fabulously delivered, ‘Sardines’ offers a coming-of-age story for when your life hasn’t exactly gone as you had planned, and how we can look back at past experiences to grow.

The wonderful score by Ruth Lyon brought the whole show together. An extremely talented Newcastle-based artist, Lyon provided live sounds to the shows alongside recorded tracks. The audience were also shown two of her music videos in between shows, which were visually stunning as well as a treat for the ears.

Words by Molly Wear