King’s Head theatre, London
Cesca Echlin’s debut of three vignettes explores sadomasochistic dynamics, virtual romance and masturbatory pleasure

Some people leave “invisible marks on your body which only you know are there,” the narrator tells us. She is speaking about men she meets and to whom she gives a fantasy life, to give an erotic charge to her own existence. They “stride across your mental landscape” and you puff them up “like balloons”. You wish they weren’t so big, but they keep you company. There are so many elegant lines in Cesca Echlin’s debut play, which was staged at the Edinburgh fringe in 2023.

Directed by Echlin, it comprises three vignettes about the erotic potential of solo fantasy and projection. The first part is about a university student and her arrogant tutor, whose indifference and harsh words enact a psychic violence. But rather than heading into Oleanna territory, the student tells us she likes it. That sadomasochistic dynamic continues into the next story, in which she confesses to a man on a dating app her desire to be demeaned. He stays virtual in her life but provides masturbatory pleasure for her nonetheless. The final tale is of a romantic attraction that again does not materialise into physical reality but takes up enormous space in her imagination.

At King’s Head theatre, London, until 26 January

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