I’m standing on an Edinburgh street corner waiting for my next show but things feel a little different: I’m in a queue of just one. However, this has not been a terrible day for ticket sales – it is entirely deliberate. The play I’m about to see, You’re Needy (Sounds Frustrating), sells a single seat for each performance and the production is built specifically for one audience member.
The team behind it, , are not alone in their endeavours at the fringe, which has long presented shows designed for solitary viewers. A young woman approaches, introducing herself as “Carrie’s sister”, and leads me up many flights of stairs to a flat. “She’s ready for you,” she tells me, and opens the door of the bathroom, encouraging me to take the lone seat next to the tub to meet the wellness obsessed Carrie (a part played by the show’s co-founder, Laoise Murray).
You’re Needy (Sounds Frustrating) is about the pull of the health industry and the effect it can have on women’s minds and bodies. Carrie lies in the bath, which is brimful of hot water, wrapped up like a mummy in clingfilm and seaweed. She has cucumber circles to cover her eyes and a cleansing mask glued to her skin.
She’s on a “journey to purification” and I’m there to help her re-engage with the outside world. It’s an intense experience. The bathroom is small and Carrie needs me to pass her various props, including cameras to take pictures of her body, a meal of diet noodles, and vitamins to .