REVIEW - LOOK, NO HANDS - EDINBURGH FRINGE -

Nothing in life is ever guaranteed, and you never know what may happen next. You may make the same journey for the 1000th time, and this time instead of making it to the destination – you end up injured.

Look, No Hands focuses on Vee (Lila Clements) a young woman cycling in London, when she is knocked off her bike on Kennington Road by a van. Following this we find out that she is lucky to have survived, but her memories of the incident are fractured due to her suffering anterograde and retrograde amnesia.

This one-person performance is staged using a stationary bicycle, utilised in a variety of ways during the show. It’s used as a bicycle, as a wheelchair and the wheel is used as a steering wheel at one point. Behind this, bicycle wheels are mounted to the wall and illuminated throughout the show. I really enjoyed this staging, it’s very effective, and using the bicycle helps the audience to visualise the scenarios played out in front of you.

Clements has used her own experience of a cycling accident to create this monologue. It’s unclear whether her own experience was as traumatic as the one portrayed, but Clements brings an intensity to her performance, which means that the story feels authentic.

Vee learns more about the accident from seeing herself on 24 hours in A&E on TV and reading her medical notes. The performance is emotive in places and Clements portrays beautifully how hard it must be to not remember the most traumatic experience of your life.

Look, No Hands is a uniquely original piece. The story has a good arc, in which we observe a conflict of emotions from Vee after her accident, which is powerful to watch. However, I was left feeling that there was something missing from this monologue. Maybe it was that we never got to know Vee well outside of her accident, and therefore her character development was limited, as we did not know what she was like prior. Although with more characterisation, I believe this performance could have a powerful emotive impact upon its audience.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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