Tarantula
Tarantula, Philip Ridley’s nightmarish monologue about trauma and its aftermath, was first performed live online during the Covid pandemic in 2021. For its in-person debut at the Arcola Theatre, director Wiebke Green and actor Georgie Henley return and work in near-perfect tandem. The result is a 90-minute immersion into the mind of a person who is sensationally and irreparably disturbed.
Erstwhile Chronicles of Narnia star Henley plays Toni, a teenager at the top of her class with big dreams of going to Oxford. She reads obsessively, but has barely any experience in the realm of love or sex. Tonight, she’s counting down the hours until her first date with fellow romantic amateur Michael, a wannabe photographer who she met while volunteering at her school’s annual event for older residents. ‘I feel like there’s a real connection between us,’ he says to her.
The early part of Ridley’s monologue plays out like the dialogue in a Jaqueline Wilson novel. Toni is a ball of anxiety; constantly questioning ‘why?’ she uses certain words and if she is making a fool of herself. She talks to the audience as if we are her confidants - sharing her inner worries about her looks and behaviour, revealing a typically adolescent insecurity that she doesn’t quite fit in the world. ‘I’m a slug next to a gazelle’, she wobbles as she walks, hand in hand with Michael. And yet, for the most part, she remains a sunny - if slightly extravagant presence. But, in keeping with Ridley’s past works,...
