Hi Anxiety (Contact, Manchester)

Debs Gatenby’s one woman show Hi Anxiety is a comedy show dealing with the difficult subject of mental health, in particular anxiety and focuses on the breakdowns of both her and her mother.

Mental health is a very tricky subject to tackle, especially with humour, as it is very close to the bone for many people. The uncomfortable nature of the topic is forgotten immediately, and Debs knows and embraces the discomfort of the audience.

Her welcoming demeanour and admittance of the awkward laughs means you settle in to her performance. The emotional nature of the show is matched by fast paced humour meaning that you never tip over in to sadness, she keeps you yin high spirits by laughing at herself and her condition.

Although the show begins by driving you along with the laughs, it very quickly becomes far too emotional to laugh at. The further Debs explores her illness and her past , the more you struggle to find humour in the story.

Despite the humour not punching through as often as would be apt for a comedy, the depth of her emotional state is clear. As this begins to overtake the laughter, even the moments that would be funny fall short as you are still thinking about the sadness you feel for her.

Whilst Hi Anxiety struggles to keep the laughter plentiful, it has no difficulties in stirring up your feelings and making you think about everything that Debs says. Each moment is poignant but, unfortunately, not filled with humour.

The show begins by making you laugh, but as you go deeper into the show (just as Debs delved deeper into her psychological issues) you cannot maintain the upbeat feeling the show originally promised.

There is a fine line between tragedy and comedy and sadly Hi Anxiety falls too far on the side of tragedy. That said, this is a brave and honest piece and at times, very moving.

Hi Anxiety is at Contact, Manchester until 27 November.