Turn your mobiles off and be quiet spit two masked characters at the start of Clinical Lies. The obvious reference to our potential to disturb the following action sets the tone well, as most of the production consists of the direct, accusative stares and sardonic, sharp chat of protagonist Amy at the audience, played by the captivating Eva OConnor.Wearing heavy lipstick and mascara, Amy is a glamour puss of a girl. She has clear opinions and habits: she holds the hot water on Lemsip - because that way it tastes like lucky dip; she talks of casual friendship culture with disdain and dismisses wanna-rexics (incase you werent sure, those girls who think being anorexic is appealing). Then Amy tells us she is sitting in front of us ready to commit murder. So, this is where the truth comes out - or so it seems. Amy has fallen pregnant after being raped, and speaks to us in the abortion clinic waiting room. Yet, there is something fragile and strange about this frank girl. Before her dialogue starts and also later in the piece, OConnor performs disjointed movement sequences, her body curving and jolting in every direction. It somewhat undermines the absolute clarity of her unflinching speech. Indeed, we soon learn that Amys mother, careless as she is, is really the only person Amy tried to tell about her assault. Amy suddenly looks young, her bra straps hanging down her arms as she talks, her legs swinging in her chair. There is more to Amy than meets the eye.OConnor performs her self-penned, often sparkling script with spunkiness and wry humour. What lets the production down is OConnors supporting cast, who seem rather superfluous to what is evidently a one-woman show. Amy tells us she dislikes egg yolks and only eats egg whites, and that perhaps this makes her something of a racist; she reflects on the Ku Klux Klan and one of the chorus unnecessarily appears as a masked member. Sophie Fuller, as Amys mother, is a yummy mummy stereotype who does nothing but eat scones and socialise, and Matthew Broderick and Melissa Gray, as the doctor and nurse who attend to Amy, are manipulative and ditzy respectively. Perhaps the characterisations are meant to demonstrate the difference between real Amy and the rest of a false world, but they lack commitment and OConnor simply eclipses them. The effect on Clinical Lies is that it feels somewhat disjointed and inconsistent. However, whilst this is not a stand out piece of theatre as a whole, OConnor is a stand-out performer - go see Clinical Lies for her.
