Review

Zones of Avoidance, David Russell Theatre, Portsmouth

Maggie Sawkins' Zones of Avoidance is an intriguing combination of video, sound and live presentation of her poetry combined with words from people in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse.

The award-winning show - recipient of the 2013 Ted Hughes Award for New Work Poetry - takes its audience into the world of Maggie's daughter's drug addiction.

It's raw, it's painful and it's deeply personal. The verse, beautifully written, is set on an austere stage with two corners of home depicted by simple tables and chairs with a bowl of fruit, a lamp and a bottle of wine. It's from these stage corners that much of her tender verse was delivered.

Accompanied by visuals on a big screen and a TV, the images evoked by Maggie's words were the strongest, especially when you closed your eyes to the darkness and heard the raw pain. After the depiction of a barefoot daughter and her bedsit, Maggie's letters to The Boy finished me off in an emotional wrangle.

It's uncomfortable listening. But that's part of Maggie's style. To be questioning but not judgemental, to make the audience consider, to pull you in and make your hold your breath.

Zella Compton

Portsmouth News 3 November 2014