REVIEW: OVERSHARE by Eleanor Hill at Greenwich Theatre

‘a powerful piece of theatre - self-indulgent but it is called Overshare, so we stand warned’ ★★★★

Eleanor Hill discloses fearlessly, and what she choses to share is the stuff most of us keep hidden till Domesday and beyond. She theoretically shares it with the world and her phone, for Eleanor is a Social Media Queen, but on this performance her phone didn’t connect, she carried on for 30 minutes without a connected phone, and then her tech team paused everything for fifteen minutes to reconnect the tech.

Was the technology essential? Well, a central conceit of the performance is that she is alone with her phone, engaging with her phone, confessing to her phone. She looks at the screen, the phone looks at her, and the audience watches her face relayed onto a screen at the back of the stage. Only disconnect, as E. M. Forster nearly said. It is a compelling trope. It is a weird viewing experience, voyeuristic and engaged at the same time, and it is uncomfortable and illuminating and leaves watchers a tad puzzled. Dissociated maybe. Which is a highly appropriate state to watch Eleanor Hill narrating break-ups and breakdowns and stalking and squirrel attacks.

This is a powerful piece of theatre. It is self-indulgent but it is called Overshare, so we stand warned. It charts what seems to be genuine mental distress, and if the performance of it is therapeutic that’s a good thing. It is sort of funny, in a ‘shocking? I’m not shocked…’ vein.

Eleanor Hill is brave, dynamic, holds an audience for an hour (plus tech snafu) with ease, talks about things that should be talked about, however troubling, and sends her audience out of the Greenwich theatre talking about the stuff she has told us. Whether or not we like it. Her story, told her way. Respect.

Photography: Joe Twigg

OVERSHARE by Eleanor Hill at Greenwich Theatre until 25 May 2025

Box Office https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/overshare/