Vault Festival seems like the ideal place to stage a show that begins with a relatable twenty-something dancing to the charts with a glass of wine. Primadonna, is both quirky and new, full of parties and drinks with secrets that we wait to be unveiled from their past. Rosie was always the odd one out at school, the one who always knew how to be organised and how to please others. Then, at the age of twenty-two she finds herself in a world unbeknown to her as Rosie (played by writer Katie Kellett), guides us through the trials and tribulations of her job as a PA to, not one, but two Primadonna’s.

In one hour we quickly see both the demanding and immoral aspects of Rosie’s job. With Lucy and Wren, two challenging women to say the least, constantly demanding ludicrous errands and unreasonable tasks to be completed at the drop of a hat, it is no wonder that at the end Rosie realises her situation and almost as if in a state a shock, comes crashing down to the reality of her own self worth.

An hour of horribly middle-class, materialistic demands quickly become tiresome and repetitive when there’s nothing really to grasp at in the writing. The audience becomes trapped in Rosie’s daily regime.

With all that said, I didn’t wholly dislike what I saw. Moments of the show were hysterical, and unfortunately all too relatable! I understand why Rosie takes on the defeating errands and why she keeps going: we have all been there ourselves. Kellett deals with her script with energy and style, switching between characters and accents, switching props and using the audience for a little bit of participation. It was all executed with enthusiasm, and helped to project Rosie’s mad world onto us. The witty, stereotyped characterisations and Jamie Jackson’s direction carried the space of the Vaults with ease.

What can we take away from Primadonna? In life we so often try to make excuses for other people’s behaviour towards us. We give them the benefit of the doubt and continue to do what they want because we believe that this will lead to us feeling accepted and valued. Primadonna demonstrates that it’s up to us to both look after ourselves and to treat others, with respect and never take them for granted.

Primadonna is lined up against some phenomenal acts at Vault Festival and unfortunately it doesn’t quite reach the mark. It’s the show to see with a drink in your hand and some friends by your side, ready to laugh at mistakes that you’ve made, but it is not a play that will really affect you, and it wouldn’t be my first choice at Vaults.

 

Primadonna is playing Vault Festival until 21 February. For more information and tickets, see www.vaultfestival.com/primadonna