Jake Mace
In one household, two divergent lives of siblings pulls the family apart, with violent insipid consequences. It’s a story you think you might have heard before, but Fix Your Mind pulls this domestic drama into an urgent, multifaceted exploration of Incel culture and the precarities of Queer identities in 2024. The piece twinkles darkly, with outstandingly compelling performances at the core delivering sharp dramatic turns throughout. Nascent, gripping, and at points satirically-driving into the darkest corners of the Incel misogynistic psyche.
Incel means ‘Involuntary Celibate’, which we quickly learn from a well-integrated set of projections against the back of the mighty grand stage. A twisted, nasty internet subculture reveals itself through a series of Reddit posts and YouTube videos that intertwine the narrative, informing one of the central characters’, James, sensibilities and later dark and twisted actualisations. It’s a kaleidoscopic, horrifying insight into how a mind can become warped by unsupervised consumption of echo chamber content.
The heart of this piece is a spotlessly performed family drama, which sprawls out into strands of individual stories that takes time to address each character with near enough flawless ease. Set over three time periods across 2014, 2019, and 2024, the family’s story parallels that of the growth of malicious misogynistic influencers as we’ve seen in online culture over the same timescale. The chemistry between the three, and especially the sibling dynamic between Max Jordan’s James and Bonnie McGhee’s Sasha is palpable, felt coursing through the veins of the story.
James’ character arc traverses that of brooding teen, to a person who comes to concern all those around him with his violent intentions, to becoming a truly despisable individual spouting the utmost hate, and Jordan pulls this arc off with such commitment that you genuinely can’t help but feel a little queasy looking at him in the play’s final moments. His belligerent and disobeying tone of voice becomes emboldened by the Incel jargon he learns as the piece progresses. Despite this, James never comes across as a one note character, and we see how he manages to extinguish the few moments of joy he experiences through his hateful ideology.
Sasha evolves in tandem with her partner Kit, whose on-stage chemistry delivers ample amount of wholesome and burgeoning tender romance, as is to be expected in a coming-of-age story. As they develop from Queer teens to adjusted adults, Sasha finds space to stand her ground and defend her family, both chosen and otherwise, which offers an empowering alternative to the bleakness of the misogyny on show throughout the piece.
A steadfast performance from McGhee delivers this with unguarded poise, shifting between empathy and defiance with ease. The Queer relationship represented could itself be a whole piece of work – the ambition in showing every side of this lexicon is compelling, and the moments of Queer joy resonant. Holly Sewell’s script dances in exploring the intoxicating, horrific world that James finds himself in and what makes our relationships and communities resilient, and how we can support those who surround Incel culture and those sucked into it.
Clear-cut and rich supporting performances from Axe Mungersdorf as Kit and Georgia Brooke-Hitching as Mum Anna work perfectly to create a textured world. Brooke-Hitching manages to play a much older character with poise and refinement, while Mungersdorf breathes life into Kit, who comes across authentic, assuredly Queer, and delivers a beautiful monologue about their identity and how the difficult relationship that has to misogyny.
Deft direction and solid performances anchor this piece in excellence, though it feels that the moments of projection involving Reddit posts and YouTube detract from the piece’s fluidity. Rather than timestamping the piece or earmarking certain content, they come across a little randomly interjected, until James himself starts posting, where the device starts to make more sense. Some of the delivery of the voiceovers in these sections felt a little too exaggerated to offer the wounding depth of depravity in the content too.
This is a sharp, prescient, and exciting offering from Fundamental Loose Screw, who demonstrate a deft ability to deliver dramatic blows that leave wounds un-clotted as you walk out of the theatre.
Bruising, bold, brilliant – Fix Your Mind delves down paradoxical universes that would otherwise find themselves left untold, and leaves the taste of a powerful theatrical experience in your mouth.
Recommended Drink: Fix Your Mind is best paired with a Negroni – dark, intoxicating, bittersweet.
Catch Fix Your Mind until August 21st at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Other Yin from 18:00. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
