'Alcoholic? Me? Don't be ridiculous darling, I'm just trying a number of very good wines together.'

Stark bonking raving mad may or may not have been what Sophie Gatacre (left) was aiming for in her one-woman show, Samantha's Hotline, but that is certainly what she has ended up with. Billed as a comedy, more than one tragic element weaves through the tale which follows Samantha, an abandoned Sloane wife who starts a phone-sex-line to fund her son's riding lessons.

There is something morbidly fascinating in watching Samantha fall apart as she flips through a crazed game of dress-up and faked orgasms, becoming undone-nuns for priests, teachers with canes for Members of Parliament (paid on expenses, obviously), and cowgirls on stallions for anyone who wants one. The contrast between these fantasies and the reality of a bored woman who hurls abuse down the phone at her friends while knocking back glasses upon glasses of wine or scouring the Financial Times to check her ex's share prices, are brought vividly to life by Sophie Gatacre's angular, jerking body and elastic face. Garish lips gurn beneath thickly mascara'd eyes and whitened skin encouraging the urge to cry, scream and run away all at once. Likewise her voice with its mixture of gravel and syrup bounds through a variety of different accents and brings to the fore the desperation, rage and sheer ludicrousness of Samantha's plight.

There are times when the performer clearly lacks confidence, and at one point she suddenly stepped out of character to apologise for her flung dressing gown hitting a chandelier. The show also begins and ends rather abruptly as Sophie Gatacre announces the title and her name like a pupil at a school recital, then gives a curt 'It's finished now' when she rises from Samantha's phone sex orgy with Bamboo man the Maasai Warrior. Some gags also go on too long as do the many explanatory comments, but the unrestrained energy which she throws at the piece offer moments of terrifying reality. There is a bite in the humour when Samantha weeps down the sex line at her son, 'Darling, Mummy's doing her market research', or when she screams to one of her callers (in the character of a rescued virgin), 'You didn’t use a condom! My first time and I'm probably pregnant! Will you look after us?'

Unpolished, insane and frankly mind-boggling, it is hard to tell whether Samantha's Hotline is very mad, very bad or very good, but one thing is for sure: it is certainly never ever boring.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Sophie Gatacre.

Company Credits: Writer - Sophie Gatacre. Director - uncredited. Lighting Designer - uncredited. Sound Designer - uncredited. Technical Operator - uncredited. Producer - John Wain. Company - uncredited. Website - www.samanthashotline.com.

END

(c) Philippa Tatham 2010

reviewed Wednesday 24 March 2010 / The Albert and Pearl, London UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com