FEMPIRE MESS – Kirsten Vangness

Assembly Rooms, Powder Room, 54 George Street (Venue 20) Until Aug 24 @ 8.15pm

Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard P. Feynman wrote, “If you think you know quantum physics…you don’t.” After watching Fempire Mess, I’d say, if you think you know actress Kirsten Vangsness…you don’t. I’m sure you know her as quirky and confident FBI tech analyst Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds. However, Vangsness exposed her vulnerabilities and personal demons to a sold-out audience at the Assembly’s Powder Room.

Vangsness presents her show as an experiment in quantum theory and time. She explains that time is no longer linear, but rather a fluid entity. Thus, we begin the journey with a sing song, led by Vangsness and accompanied by audience members with various playschool instruments. Vangsness explains that we are now part of her moment in time and secures us to the narrative she is about to perform.

The journey takes us through her childhood spent at the mercy of a father who drank, her first sexual awakening, and her internal conflict between religion and gratification. From the age of four and throughout her success on network television, the “demons” (manifested by scary voice overs during the show) have followed her throughout her life. Vangsness leaves us with one simple idea. It’s that the nightmares (whatever they may be) and inhibitions we carry through our lives do not have to define us.

If time is indeed non-linear, then we can best be assured that the incredible Miss Vangsness will grace the stages of Edinburgh and beyond in our future.

 

 

 

Guest Reviewer: Kathryn S Kraus


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