Noise Control by Caldonia Walton
The Camden People’s Theatre, London
Noise Control was created for The Sick of the Fringe as part of It's All in Your Head. The project explores and sheds light on mental health.
Caldonia Walton’s solo performance, Noise Control, confronts mental health head on by exploring the torturous internal narrative of an anxiety sufferer. No time is wasted as Walton submerges us into the bleak reality of her subject as she enters a hypnotic state while keeping impressive control over gradual movements that seems to contort in on themselves. The initial ominous tone is interrupted by a charismatic presenter that Walton embodies to explain how to control anxiety. Her spoken words become distorted and form a fragmented sound-scape, on which her body snags in a twitching and ragged response. Action develops into a jittery patchwork which gains speed as Walton is overwhelmed by the erratic swell of consciousness filling her head. This animated character is intermittently insecure, but successfully injects a sense of grotesque humour to the otherwise serious theme.