theSpace @ Venue45
Edinburgh Fringe, 2023

Hinc Illae Lacrimae

Intimacy – is it about pleasure, compassion, love – all of the above? This new two-hander by Sarah Nelson, staged by Watershed Productions, raises complex questions about where and how people seek intimacy and their different needs for physical pleasure and emotional connection.

Chloe (Caitlin O’Ryan) is interviewing Nel (Imogen Greenwood) for her masters thesis and the questions pertain to her sexual history and values. It’s highly personal but Nel is an empowered character and confident in her sexuality. There is overwhelming judgment from Chloe, it seems, so Nel stridently defends herself and together they unpack their respective interpretations of sexual culture.

This play lays everything out where, despite Nel’s assertiveness, Chloe also divulges highly private experiences and their connection deepens. Both characters agree with the discrimination and unequal power dynamics that women are subjected to on a daily basis but each have distinctly different journeys to arrive at their individual sexual cultures.

This presents a contrast that celebrates difference, but also allows a dramatic tension to develop, where conflict is understandable and relatable, without anyone being correct or incorrect per se. It’s interpretive and honest and, in this process, the audience are challenged to negotiate an ethical map without necessarily being sure where the footholds are.

There were some strong elements to the writing but much that rang as unnatural and expositional to me – although I was wondering whether that might have been the actors being distracted because there was an infant/baby making significant noise throughout the play (which was being filmed too, poor guys). For the first half, the listening wasn’t particularly strong which meant the behaviour was self-generated and a little artificial. It felt like only at the end of the play, was the contact between the actors deep enough to make me believe they were naturally interacting and I wonder whether they would have been strong the whole way through if it wasn’t for the distraction.

I did enjoy how the play crescendoed as the pressure-cooker built. A strong twist and strong emotional catharsis arrive in the second half and the characters must find new levels of compassion to be able to process their situation. The characters end up learning that intimacy isn’t just about knowing your partners but also knowing yourself and finding compassion for others.

Stuart Bruce