Former archaeologist Mary is a mass of disturbing quirks of compulsive behaviour. Gradually she "digs down to hell": her childhood games and songs grow darker, uncovering a history of sexual abuse by her father. Her guilty obsession with religious rituals grows into a perverted Virgin Mary complex; reality and fantasy blur as a backstreet abortion becomes a harrowing satanic ceremony. Carran Waterfield avoids melodrama in her compelling performance, building each repetitive task or simple song into a frenzy. James Lantsbery's eerie score is an integral part of this unsettling work.
Written for The Independent.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
Return to index of reviews for the year 1992