★★★★★
Oh, Calm Down follows two women 25 years apart who have very different, yet similar, mental health problems. Claire (Charlotte Anne-Tilley) is an art student, whose grades have suffered severely due to panic attacks. When she calls her mum following a disastrous meeting with her head of year to discover her grandma is ill, her mental health takes a downwards turn, and she finds herself constantly thinking about death, and blaming herself for her grandma’s poor health. Lucy (Maddy Banks) is pregnant, and is due to go into labour any day now. She has read tonnes of parenting books and has a very thorough birth plan detailing her wishes for minimal medical intervention. When the birth doesn’t go the way she planned, her anxiety grows and she becomes fixated on her baby getting hurt.
The show focuses on existential OCD and post-natal OCD, which, as Claire finds during her research, are two of many subtypes of the illness. It is refreshing to see this covered as still too many people believe that people with OCD must be fixated on cleaning. This is an opinion that Claire herself holds. When her friend Ellie suggests she may have OCD, she immediately dismisses it as she is not a “clean freak”, despite Ellie explaining her sister’s experiences of intrusive thoughts. Oh, Calm Down is informative without becoming preachy or boring. Even Lucy’s realisation years later that she was likely misdiagnosed with postnatal psychosis highlights misconceptions around the condition.
Anne-Tilley and Banks’ acting is flawless, as they slip between various roles seamlessly with help from props such as a hospital gown, clipboard and notepad. The best of these is the role of the grandma, which they both share. Anne-Tilley’s portrayal is strict, yet caring, while Banks’ has softened more thanks to experience. Her character development, while a small detail, demonstrates the change in attitudes towards mental health.
Oh, Calm Down does sometimes feel like there are two separate storylines going on, up until the end where the link becomes clearer. Still, both storylines are beautifully explained and acted with such skill, that it feels silly to fault the show on this. Vulnerable and eye-opening, it is an exquisite piece of theatre.
Oh, Calm Down will be performed at Summerhall – Cairns Lecture Theatre at 3pm until 26 August (not 19) as part of Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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