Carrie's moved into her bathroom... William Dunleavy of tasteinyourmouth introduces their latest show, a site-specific piece entitled You're Needy (sounds frustrating), which features at this year's Dublin Fringe Festival.
This is the story of a girl named Carrie. You're Needy (sounds frustrating) is an unique off-site experience for one actor and one audience member set in the bathroom of a (real!) house. The piece interrogates how capitalism seeks to control women’s bodies through the "wellness" industry, touching on monotony, meditation, medication, and, of course, Gwenyth Paltrow.
Myself, Grace Morgan and Laoise Murray (collectively known as tasteinyourmouth) started thinking about this show three years ago in Grace’s sitting room. We wanted to make a show about the constant pressure to improve, to always be moving forward, to always becoming more perfect. It was everywhere: in ads, in healthcare, in inspirational Instagram quotes, and lockdown had made it worse, creating a pressure to self-improve with all this new "free time". And so Carrie, a woman who decides to take to her bathtub in a fit of self-improvement, was born.
We wanted to make a show about the constant pressure to improve, to always be moving forward, to always becoming more perfect.
We all know Carrie. She’s doing the right things to improve herself: she’s eating well and drinking water and thinking positive thoughts. But now she’s gone a little too far. Carrie has taken refuge in her bathroom and is living in her bathtub so she can better pursue her goals of peace, solitude and "wellness". She's now living on slim noodles, chopped parsley baths and SnailMucusWhalePlacenta Face Masks (™).
When we were researching this story, we were inspired by hikikomori, a Japanese phenomenon whereby young people retreat from society (usually to their parents homes) for long periods - sometimes up to years at a time. Some hikikomori are visited by Rental Sisters, a volunteer organisation that tries to encourage them to re-enter society, and so we decided that they audience would play a role similar to this, visiting Carrie and talking to her about her confinement. Take an ocean breath, snort a line of rock salt and brace your orifices for some steaming - all your yoni eggs have come home to roost! It’s time to peel off those cucumbers and take a long hard look at yourself!
From Grace’s sitting room in Dublin, Carrie and her bathtub have taken a roundabout journey to return to Dublin for her premiere. Her first, fledgling appearance, was in Cork in a scratch showing supported by Corcadorca. Carrie then began to take fuller shape with the support of Kilkenny Arts Festival, Shawbrook Dance Centre in Longford, Camden People’s Theatre in London before finally reaching completion back in The Lab on Foley Street, Dublin.
In creating this show, our aim was to deliver a visceral live experience that leaves a taste in your mouth (that’s where we got the name). You may not necessarily like everything we do but we hope that a line, an image, a moment will stay with you long after the lights go down.
You’re Needy (sounds frustrating) previews on Thursday 14th September runs 15th - 23rd September as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2023 - find out more here.
