Hold Your Breath (Count to Ten) | The Blue Room | Until 12 May | ★ ★ ★
Hold Your Breath (Count to Ten) is an autobiographical work from performer Daley King. Its the first show of The Blue Room’s 2018 season and it’s a challenging work about mental health and the conversations we have, or more often don’t have, about the topic.
The stage is set with a large mirror, reflecting the audiences own image back at themselves, a woman in a white jacket sits on a chair. Rather than a patient lying on a couch, a man lies in a claw foot bathtub.
A conversation begins between the psychologist (Amy Murray) and the man in the tub (Daley King). He explains that there is a statistically larger chance of a child with autism drowning, noting that the sensory deprivation of being underwater is a welcome relief to those who can be overwhelmed by too many things going on at once.
Daley King explains that he himself has recently been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, a classification that has offered explanation to why he is the way he is. Combined with diagnoses for bi-polar disorder and depression, coupled with the challenges of asthma and sinuses, King shares his long list of medical and psychological battles.
He’d like to make a theatrical work about these issues, the work he’s referring to is the one we’re watching, and via a long conversation he opens up about his frustrations, fears and desires.
It’s a brave and honest piece of work, the actor appears almost completely naked before us both physically and emotionally. He lets down his defenses and invites the audience in to see the world from his perspective.
Theatrically though, it’s a challenging piece to watch. Director Susie Conte has clearly worked hard to insert movement, pauses and interaction between the characters to break it out of the mold of ‘man in a bath rants about life’, but often it isn’t enough.
Close Your Eyes (Count to Ten) succeeds in sharing with us the experience of King’s view of the world, but over the course of an hour there is a little story or character development to take us anywhere.
It’s an intriguing production – one that should be praised for its open discussion of a serious topic, but lacking in drama.
Get tickets to see Hold Your Breath (Count to Ten) at The Blue Room
Graeme Watson
