Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Monica Ferero, Alex Wells King.

A hot date, a man and a woman discussing the impending moments of first kiss, of possible sex and the state of Sandra Bullock’s acting career, all normal, all light and thoughtful, yet there in the corner of the room is the first sign that not all is well and it is that image that drives Theatre Apparently’s I Keep A Woman In My Flat Chained To A Radiator with dark comic overtones.

In the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, Zoo is a place where interesting plays can take place, where the huge idea can be seen without the thorny issue of complexity spearing its way into the spotlight and it is a place where a large crowd can enjoy the pleasure of well delivered lines and yet feel something stirring in the air, something amiss and it is in this dichotomy of light and shade that Theatre Apparently’s Monica Ferero and Alex Wells King highlight, shout from the very rafters, the nature of captive and captor, of kidnapper and victim and turn it on its head.

The play suggests anarchy, no kidnapped person would even talk to the person who abducted them except out of fear or perhaps with a plan of escape taking root in their mind, not in congenial terms, not with a smile as they helped them get ready for a date, yet even without being said, without the words being mentioned, the thought of initial Stockholm Syndrome taking root can be seen.

The black comedy thrives on this, the amiable nature of the two characters only punctured by the scream of frustration, brutal, cornered animal like from the kidnapper, as the audience soon realises that he is just as much dependent on her as she is on him.

Monica Ferero is a delight as the kidnapped woman, subtle in her language, coaxing humanity out of her captor, making him reliant on her for even the smallest of tasks in which he cannot survive without, it is quite a thing to behold the captive turning the tables on the mind of those who commit the crime and one that really does get the audience thinking and laughing in equal measure.

Darkly comic, I Keep A Woman In My Flat Chained To A Radiator screams out with wild abandon to be seen at Zoo as part of this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Ian D. Hall