PLAY REVIEW: Succubus ★★★★

Succubus is a gloriously ghoulish comedy that turns the everyday horrors of misogyny into something deliciously monstrous. Written and performed by Georgina Collins, this darkly playful one-woman show sinks its teeth into the frustrations of womanhood, serving up a bloody cocktail of body horror, sexual awakening and righteous female rage.

At its centre is an awkward, seemingly unremarkable young woman whose increasingly insatiable appetite for human flesh follows a series of dispiriting encounters with men and a dismissive medical establishment. What begins as a peculiar tale of physical transformation soon develops into a wickedly funny revenge fantasy, in which the men who have made her life miserable find themselves firmly on the menu.

Collins is a magnetic presence, expertly navigating the shift from timid outsider to unapologetic predator. Her performance combines wide-eyed innocence with an increasingly ferocious physicality, finding humour in the grotesque without losing sight of the character's underlying vulnerability. The arrival of a fellow creature, Sabine, adds a welcome dimension of queer intimacy and complicates the show's ideas of monstrosity and belonging.

Director Grainne Robson keeps the action brisk, allowing the absurdity to flourish while giving the material enough space to explore its darker implications. Production design by Toby and Dan Silver transforms a modest playing space into a makeshift slaughterhouse, using plastic sheeting, simple props and splashes of theatrical gore to imaginative effect. The production's deliberately DIY aesthetic becomes part of its charm, proving that a little ingenuity can be more effective than elaborate spectacle.

Yet beneath the bloodshed, the writing occasionally struggles to bring its provocative ideas to a fully satisfying conclusion. The satire is sharpest when exposing the casual dismissal of women's experiences; elsewhere, the narrative rushes through its increasingly outrageous developments, leaving some themes less explored than they deserve.

Nevertheless, Succubus is an audacious, darkly entertaining piece of fringe theatre. Collins's performance, Robson's assured direction and the production's gleefully grotesque sensibility make for an evening that is as thought-provoking as it is stomach-churning. A deliciously wicked tale of female rage, it leaves a distinctly bloody taste in the mouth.