HOURGLASS by Alice Mayer at The Bread and Roses 29-30 October 2026
“An inventive blend of comedy and horror, anchored by an excellent performance from Mayer.” ★★★½
Charlie is upbeat, likeable and worried that she might be turning into a black widow spider. Her ex-boyfriends have met a succession of grisly ends, and she believes a curse is responsible. There is, understandably, quite a lot to discuss in therapy.
Written and directed by, and starring, Alice Mayer, HOURGLASS is an inventive blend of comedy and horror, anchored by an excellent performance from Mayer. Framed around a therapy session, this one-woman show follows Charlie as she recounts her former relationships and the mysterious deaths that followed, sharing her anxiety, guilt and fears about what might be happening to her.
Disembodied voices populate her world, giving her people to react to outside the therapy scenes as she relates the events leading to her current situation. Comic takes on Disney princess-style songs, a touch of puppetry and dance make for an intriguing theatrical mix. The balance of comedy and horror is well managed, and the pacing keeps the audience engaged. The staging is varied and occasionally experimental, making good use of the space, particularly during the dance sequences. Lighting shifts complement the changes in mood. It feels sleek and well produced.
Charlie’s bright, engaging manner draws us in before she reveals her experience of sexual violence. Mayer gives its life-changing effects real emotional weight and handles the shifts between humour and distress with assurance.
The main limitation lies in how much of Charlie’s story belongs to the men in her life. By the end, we know a great deal about Joe’s background, family history and penchant for drugs and self-destruction, but considerably less about Charlie herself. Her relationships reveal what she has experienced, yet leave too little room for her dreams, ambitions or sense of who she might be beyond them. Giving these aspects of her life more attention would broaden the play’s scope and lend greater depth to an already engaging protagonist.
At its core, HOURGLASS explores a woman’s struggle with trauma and her attempt to reclaim power and control after surviving a horrific experience. There are flashes of the provocative territory explored in Promising Young Woman, although the script needs further development to fulfil that promise.
Charlie’s distress feels real, but the revenge arc sometimes works against the play’s own messaging. The final confrontation is presented as a triumphant act of empowerment, yet appears to shift responsibility towards another woman for a man’s actions. Rather than examining that displacement of blame, the ending invites us to celebrate it. This feels reductive in a story with the potential to ask more searching questions about accountability and who is made to pay.
There is much to admire here: a strong central performance, assured pacing and a willingness to experiment with form. More room for Charlie to exist beyond her relationships, and a sharper interrogation of its revenge narrative, would give this already compelling production greater depth and impact.
Read interviews and articles, giving insights into the craft of making horror for theatre HERE
Photography credit: Diana Kenyeres
