★★★★
Louise Marwood’s semi-autobiographical show Rita Lynn: Life Coach is a darkly comic tale depicting the nature of addiction. After Louise’s ambitions of becoming a dancer do not reach fruition, she becomes addicted to drugs, and gets trapped in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend Dexter. In a desperate stint to get her life back on track, she applies to be a PA for a rich housewife, only to end up as her life coach after she invents an alter-ego—Rita Lynn, named after her drug of choice—in her drug-fuelled haze.
A one-woman show, Marwood adopts all the different roles with ease. One minute she is the confident Rita Lynn, coaching her clients with blunt, no-nonsense advice, and the next she is Imogen, teetering dangerously close to rock bottom. Scenes in which there are conversations between characters are packed full of energy, with Marwood jumping between the roles, and occasionally breaking the fourth wall to make remarks and jokes to the audience. These small breaks help to make the show more vivid. Throughout the performance, she has a glint of confidence in her eyes and she is right to: it takes talent to make us love a character who keeps making terrible choices. We don’t even hate Dexter, who continually enables Imogen and shows no care towards her.
A brave production, Rita Lynn: Life Coach promises an entertaining hour that shows how difficult it is to escape the toxic cycle of addiction. My one small gripe is the ending: although it ends on a hopeful note, it feels slightly rushed. But Marwood is an exceptionally talented performer, and her strong acting skills bring colour to a script that is already bursting with detail.
Rita Lynn: Life Coach was performed at Pleasance Ace Dome as part of Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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