Bryony Kimmings has come back with another boundary pushing show, but this time it isn't with pube moustaches and shockingly explicit sexual revelations. This time, she brings her fiance - reluctantly - into the limelight. He covers his face with a multitude of props for most of it and mainly addresses the audience through recordings. It's a simple technique to show how difficult he's found it to be open about his depression (he hid it for 8 years) and also a wonderfully effective device to make us feel like we've shared something rather special when he does finally open up and address us directly. It could be gimmicky, or feel too much of a forcible tear jerker. It could lose momentum, especially as it is delivered in quite a ponderous way (other shows apparently had more energy; I wonder if today was an 'under the duvet day'). Instead, it is brilliant - mind opening and an important reminder that we must look after our men folk, who feel so strongly but find it so hard to find healthy outlets for their emotions. The show would have been less impressive and impactful if Tim and Bryony had got over the hurdle and were talking about their experiences in the past tense. But what felt so radical was that they were so painfully truthful while still being plagued by their fears. That the heavily pregnant Bryony admits on stage that she's worried about their child in case Tim commits suicide had a real impact on me - that is exactly the kind of thing you normally don't say in a wish to protect the other person, but is exactly the kind of instinct that she's asking Tim to repress. That they openly discuss their differing views about Tim's medication - he thinks he should try and wean himself off; she disagrees; is similarly unusual. What is also particularly lovely to see is what a lot of love there seems to be on stage. The tenderness with which she looks at him really is a sight for sore eyes.
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