Fringe review: 30 days of blood - Theatre Peregrine @ C Aquila

Words by Camille Dupont

Imagine a show in which you jump from opera to giant dancing tampons to murder. Then, picture four talented performers.

Image courtesy of Theatre Peregrine

Sara's bleeding. Her period won't stop and her handsome vegan flatmate doesn't make it easy for her. 

In-between some excellent songs, the exaggeration of situations Sara faces highlights important political issues: the taboo of periods (and womanhood in general) and nutritional dilemmas.

For a commonplace story, '30 days of blood' felt very Shakesperian. The lead delivers some of the funniest moments of the evening, such as "and my vagina was like" or the 'I feel horny' song (inspired by 'I feel pretty'), with humour, using it to discuss moments, feelings or fears that women usually repress.

It appears that every part of the show has been thought through. Even writing this review, I understand more of the references and the depth of the work of the Director, Eva Ditzelmuller. 

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Making the audience participate in, arguably, the most awkward situation in women's lives was daring and somehow worked. Some women did speak about their experiences - blurring for a brief moment the separation between the stage and the audience.

I was really struck by the technique of mirroring. To make the issue of womanhood flagrant, they give you, on one side, the worried and covered-in-blood Sara and, on the other, the confident - arrogant? - and clean Tom. Further in the show, whilst next to her vegan flatmate, Sara devours raw meat, with a film of living animals in the background, making the sight of eating meat unbearable.

After she is washed, Sara goes to a white party...and kills someone. Or did she kill the patriarchy? 

Finally, the absurdity of tampons being thrown on stage and the two giant dancing examples of the sanitary product made the issue of women's blood inescapable. And hilarious. 
After she is washed, Sara goes to a white party...and kills someone. Or did she kill the patriarchy? 

I had a bloody good time. No jokes.

'30 days of blood' played at the C Aquila venue at the Fringe on 27th August. More info about the production company, Theatre Peregrine, can be found at their website here.

This article is part of our coverage of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Click here to read other articles written by our contributors.