23/05/26

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The play that lurks behind that somewhat portentous title is a strange, fragmentary affair, featuring seemingly unanswered questions in the life of the titular character. These moments are revealed in a series of short scenes that career back and forth across the years. When we first encounter her, Baby Mash-Up (Claire Lamont) is a child, drawing simple designs onto paper, her primitive artwork displayed on a series of hanging sheets that provide a backdrop. But as soon as she speaks, it’s clear that she’s actually an adult looking back at her own childhood.

But this is to be no ordinary journey through one person’s life. It will include the bombastic observations of her father (Benny Young), her tragic mother (Pauline Goldsmith) and her sister (Jasmin Gleeson). There will be regular interruptions from various famous philosophers, memories of the horrors of Belfast’s Bloody Friday – and some involuntary tap-dancing. There are also regular visits from two mysterious young men (Paul Gorman and Cristian Ortega). The latter duo appear to have been charged with resetting Baby M’s life when things go wrong – which they often do – a simple process that involves putting her into a washing machine and pressing the ‘on’ switch.

Note to self: where can I get one of those? Amazon?

You could say that the play is pretentious and perhaps it is, a little bit, but that’s not necessarily a criticism. Some of the most ambitious art is ostentatious by its very nature and it’s undeniable that Sally Hobson’s Baby Mash-Up does exert an increasingly stronger hold on me as it progresses, until by the final scenes, I am completely hooked.

On the technical side, I’m impressed by Nicholas Bone’s tight direction, which keeps the piece unerringly on course – and by Cal Owen’s inventive set design, which is further enhanced by Dick Straker’s immersive video effects. The cast are uniformly excellent in their respective roles (particularly Gorman and Ortega, who are compelled to leap from character to character at the drop of a philosopher’s hat) and even if I do leave the theatre still asking myself ‘what the flip was that all about?’ I have nonetheless been both challenged and thoroughly entertained.

Job done.

4 stars

Philip Caveney