Brighton Fringe
28th May – 27th June, 2021

I actually applauded to my laptop screen after this show! “Labyrinth” It was a brilliantly well written play by Moncho Rodreguez to be acted by Marta Carvalho. Brighton’s 2021 has become a bit of an online jump for joy that has moved in and out of a great many themes, none less than in this flying letter from Portugal. This was a video of a performance that was live in 2019 at the Camden People’s Theatre.

The set was dark, then lit up to show long large draped parted like a curtain patch work and a huge doily covered the floor. When she (Marta) revealed herself through the gap there was already an unsteady feeling in the air.

With her appearance she looked on with wild eyes and had a physical presence of eerie excitement. She wore a gown or dress looking thing that reminded me of Monet, Dracula or classical Greek. Like a goddess she stood, and as though in sacrilege she began a speech that was dark and murky.

This 2019 performance must by now be like a cult event in theatre. A specific moment when everything came together and was shown as if in an effortless conundrum. As she flew into the heart of this character her accent added to and her voice breathed into the entire room as if completely over taking it. Her lyrics were for songs without music as they blended her eternal feelings towards us.

Her vivid darkness had quiet another side to it as it completely tore through love and life. Acted with an assuredly tender and heart wrenching style of pain as to suit the murder of her partner by her own hand. There was such a commanding display of writing and speaking ever so well with words. She would below and seem to grow large a she condemned herself for her carnal crimes. Looking into life had her favours towards us leap in an emersion of some of the best descriptions I have ever come across.

Even we were not just in a room anymore her exact words must be seen and heard to try give grace to the plays proceedings. In it’s harsh enquiry of a woman in control or a woman being controlled, we believed her and we wanted to believe her. She let us in to such an extent into the core of her very psyche with an unlimited and in touch way of being human. How what we have lost could never be returned. The search for humanity was in all ways driven by her crime (imaginary or not). The great taste for the lyrical descriptions were highly revelled in this performance by let’s look only one person!

Her pain was in the heart of rending suffering, her fierce independence came across with a dazzling (dark) take on creation itself where we are lost in the sum of money. Over that she would have burned love and the world with hatred. When she did become quiet she was reduced to moments of innocence easing herself with a baby soft voice and very quite actions all inward looking. But then rose up as her hatred returned. She would hate everything about this seemingly dead man from his stench to his ashes, and as she also knew it was a complete hatred of herself she was toiling through.

She was magnificent when she was anywhere, but with that amazing dialogue of words composed to the greatest extent of any other poet or writer with a grasp on us of the greatest of calamity. A Labyrinth is an intricate combination of paths or passages which it is difficult to find one’s way or to reach the exit.

This play examined that directly as we looked on at her whose breath taking performance came to pass. An hour with a goddess, queen and empress. An hour of livened readings from an eternal craft, an hour of out stretched arms and flailing physical jolts. As a woman who in passion and in greatness throws her love around by killing its unborn master. As a subject and subjective, with honour screaming in blood at this test for all time.

Reasoned into eating his ashes so as not to sully the earth. Flaming hot, pronounced, vacuous, born of all creation with love and sunlight at their depth. She took two bows with flowers in her hands after something very special.

Daniel Donnelly

WATCH LABYRINTH