Theatre: Freakoid (Ovalhouse)

Venue: Ovalhouse theatre

Dates: 19 Feb - 9 March

Tickets: £14/£10/£8 available  from Ovalhouse

Dear quiet unassuming Emma 4, we have all met her at some point in our life. A woman of a certain age who has lived a disappointing life which has left her, well, a tad neurotic and lets be honest we’ve all discounted her as a boring and pointless. However, in this whip-smart show Emma 4 is anything but. 

Emma 4 takes refuge from her miserable life in the library, trouble is knowledge is power and she discovers that she is not what she thinks she is – a full blood human being. Emma 4’s great-grandmother crossed a socially acceptable line back in her day by falling in love with a sentient machine. 

To everybody’s surprise this union proved to be fruitful and a hooverdroid was born which grew up to become an AquaVac which in turn had children eventually leading to our Emma 4. Emma’s discovery of her true self sets her inner rebel free. Gradually we realise this invisible woman is actually a one woman resistance force helping the half meats, bot-fuckers and hooverdroids to rise up from the sewers they have been living in and overthrow the droid-phobic Orwellian regime they are living under.

So the allegory is about as subtle as a flying brick but it is fabulous, very funny and an important reminder of the struggle for LGBT rights that have gone on since the second world war. We are lucky enough to be of a generation and living in a country where we can more or less expect to be treated with civility if not universally adored. Our parents were not so lucky and it is important to remember that hard won rights can easily be lost.

“Freakoid” is one of the most inventive pieces of theatre I have seen in a very long time and richly deserves to be seen by a far wider audience. Keep your eye out for Emma Adams who both wrote and performed this play along with Sarah Applewhite who directed. They are going to pop up in the West End at some point soon or you could go see this production and tell your grandchildren how you saw that Emma Adams before she got famous.

By Laura Alexander