Reviewer: Daniel Shipman
Upstaged Rating:⭐⭐
Electrolyte is a piece of gig theatre which portrays a severe mental health crisis. Staged with six performers who act as both musicians and actors, the show revolves around Jessie (Olivia Sweeney) and the effect which the death of her parents has had on her mental health and her perception of reality.
All six performers are hugely talented and bring sky-high energy levels to the performance from the very beginning, but the company struggle to convert this into any meaningful connection with their audience. This is potentially because they come in with such high-intensity from the first moment but is also down to the fact that none of the characters ever really display any likeable qualities, and so it is difficult to empathise with them. From the frenetic opening, the show only continues to gain pace until it feels extremely rushed, as though the content was initially made for a two-hour show and then squeezed down to an hour.
This is evidently a well-intentioned approach to getting people to talk about mental health, but this is perhaps the most delicate theme theatre can cover and it fails much more often than it succeeds. The effort is admirable though, and the positive ending is warmly received by an appreciative audience. Electrolyte doesn’t make for an unenjoyable night at the theatre, but it does leave you with a strong feeling of a missed opportunity.
-Daniel Shipman