Anna Burnside a production with ‘moving and poignant moments’.
Inspired by Astronaut Barbie, young Indra is fascinated by space. But - foreshadowing alert - her space-travelling fashion doll was not the correct model but a DIY version made by her mum from the pregnant Barbie spin-off - Midge - and shoved in a homemade silver suit.
So, when Indra gets pregnant by the enigmatic Nasa, a rocket trip becomes a metaphor for the ethereal and mysterious process of growing a baby. Then Nasa disappears into the digital ether, and this becomes a solo mission. Which, as both pregnancies and space journeys can do, goes horribly wrong.
It’s a fragile dramatic edifice which works, up to a point, then becomes overstretched. As the story gets more personal, it feels laboured.
There are moving and poignant moments - how could there not be? - and lots of support groups signposted on the show’s handout. It’s a thoughtful performance about a horrible and painful subject that only intermittently succeeds as a coherent piece of theatre.
Float performs at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Other Yin) at 18:00 until August 25, 2025 (not the 10th or 24th).
Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic.