11 theatre turn-offs (or how I whittle down the list of what I want to see)
Vault Festival review: Tinted, Amy Bethan Evans throws the spotlight on life and relationships for the visually impaired

Vault Festival review: Sticky Door, Katie Arnstein's funny and poignant show about sex, equality and mental health

Writer and performer Katie Arnstein's one-woman show Sticky Door is about how she planned to take back control of her love life but ended up learning to live with past trauma.

Katie Arnstein  Sticky Door  © Lidia Crisafulli
Katie Arnstein, Sticky Door © Lidia Crisafulli

It starts at Christmas 2013 when life seems to be conspiring against her. She is between acting agents, lives in flat above a fried chicken shop which means her clothes always smell of fat and her boyfriend has just dumped her.

She decides attachment is where she is going wrong and sets herself a goal of having a different lover every month.

Through a year's exploits, we not only get Katie's witty perspective on dating and casual sex - peppered with numerous cases of cystitis - but also learn more about how past and more recent traumas have affected her mental health.

Katie Arnstein  Sticky Door  © Lidia Crisafulli (4)
Katie Arnstein, Sticky Door © Lidia Crisafulli

Arnstein is a witty and humorous writer and an engaging performer.

She mixes humour with more serious topics such as sexual assault and depression to create a nicely paced show that is full of laughs, insight and poignancy.

Sticky Door is 60 minutes long and I loved it. It gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me and I'm looking forward to what she writes next.

You can see Sticky Door at the Vault Festival until 16 February.

It is the final play of a trilogy - although works perfectly as a standalone - and you can see all 3 at the Vault Festival on Sunday 16 Feb.

You might also like to read:

11 theatre turn-offs (or how I whittle down the choice of what to see).

Review: Albion, Almeida Theatre - Victoria Hamilton is superb as the complex if unlikeable Audrey (until 29 February).

From the archive: Emotional last night performances from the cast of Mojo and David Tennant's Richard II.

 

 

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