Writers: Eirini Konstantinidou and Robin King
Director: Eirini Konstantinidou
Creating a psychological thriller in theatre isn’t easy, and though MARA tries its hardest, the implications and allusions made in the performance don’t quite hit the mark as we witness a chain of panic attacks and a puzzling storyline.
Written by Eirini Konstantinidou and Robin King, Mara, played by Angela Peters, is a woman in her 40s who finds herself trapped in a basement room. As anyone would do, she bangs on the door for help and calls her brother Jason. But the situation is dire: Mara is on her way to a hearing which will allow her to retain custody of her daughter, and she still needs to pick up her daughter from school before the hearing. Peters’ solid solo performance (aided only by a few sound effects and the voice of her daughter, Julie) carries the storyline, giving Mara a believable and pervasive and perhaps unnecessary anxiety throughout the piece. We also discover Mara’s disdain for many things – her ex-husband, her friend Anna, her co-worker Pete and even some children.
The cast of characters, whom we meet almost exclusively through her phone calls, adds up, making it difficult to understand who they are and what they do, and Peters’ brief moments multiroling are confusing and sometimes unintelligible. Somewhere in the midst, the flashbacks and twisted memories confuse and drown out any real social commentary as we try to piece back the why and how of so many of the circumstances. Dramatic booms accompany the lighting, which sometimes serves as a spotlight and sometimes does not, yet their narrative purpose is also obscure.
One highlight is the room itself; sparse, dark, and dimly lit, it is a perfect fit for the Hen & Chickens Theatre. In fact, the use of the Emergency Exit as the locked door may be a stroke of genius by the director Eirini Konstantinidou, making the door and the exit painfully obvious to look at – and inaccessible to the character.
Overall, the concept is interesting, and though there are a few strong moments, confusion and complexity reign, ending the piece with a somewhat abrupt anticlimax.
Reviewed on 10 October 2026
