★★★★★
One of the most iconic women in British soaps, Michelle Collins makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut with a weirdly creative, melodramatic story about unfulfilled aspirations, aging and the obsessive relationships people have with their idols in this dark comedy by Ben Weatherill after Stewart Permutt.
Set in the 1980s, Motorhome Marilyn, is a show inspired by Collins’ real-life encounter with a woman named “Motorhome Marilyn”, whom she noticed at a gas station in Los Angeles. It follows the story of Denise, an aspiring actress who has an obsession with Marilyn Monroe. With the hope of living up to the starlet’s fame and beauty, Denise heads off to conquer Hollywood in a Motorhome. However, her dreams are crushed. Denise then has to face up to her harsh reality and failures—by having a heart to heart with her pet snake, Bobby.
Denise has similarities to A Streetcar Named Desire’s, Blanche DuBois—particularly Gillian Anderson’s 2014 portrayal. This is in the sense that Denise is a floored, fading beauty who hasn’t always been treated well by the world but who has equally made mistakes of her own too. In this case, she is self-deluded and vengeful but has been pushed about as far as she can as a result of her mother’s untimely death and an unfortunate pregnancy—resulting in her lashing out.
The show is funny with dark humour stringing it together. Lines such as “well, at least I thought I was fucking wonderful”, “coco doodle dickhead” and “I like a clown on ket” led to roaring belly laughs from the audience—myself included (apologies!). However, it is loaded with pathos too, thus giving Collins the chance to get her teeth stuck into some real emotive stuff which she stunningly executes, proving that she herself is Hollywood worthy. The discussion surrounding the death of Denise’s mother and her complex relationship with her grandmother is particularly heartfelt.
The set is haunting too and adds to the show’s dark undertone. It is a solemn, slightly dingy set, full of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, including old movie posters and even Monroe themed bedding, really emphasising the Marilyn obsession. Yes it’s creepy and slightly deranged but my advice is just embrace the madness—it’s worth it!
So, Motorhome Marilyn consists of Michelle Collins, Marilyn Monroe, a pet snake and a motorhome. Collins even performs a fantastic rendition of River of No Return. What’s not to love? It’s at times camp, disturbingly amusing and yet somehow has the power to remain real, heartfelt and grounded. Another faultless production at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Michelle Collins, Ben Weatherill—take a bow!
Motorhome Marilyn will run at the Gilded Balloon (Doonstairs) until 25 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Cory Gourley
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Well done to Cory Gourley. Yourclear writings has made me keen to go see some of these plays