Clean Slate ***

Relationship management. No, this is not corporate jargon – this is more serious: just how does she get her boyfriend to take the rubbish out?

Unusually for the Edinburgh Fringe, Clean Slate is staged in a traverse setting – in other words, audience members sit in rows on either side of a catwalk-style stage. The set initially is a kitchen island, with our protagonist, Louisa Marshall, cleaning vigorously. The set, incidentally, proves to be ingeniously mobile.

The reason for the traverse staging becomes clear as Marshall’s tale begins. This layout facilitates a more intimate atmosphere, and more importantly, it provides a platform for significant audience participation.

Alesha Dixon’s The Boy Does Nothing seems an appropriate introduction once Marshall shines a light on her relationship with her boyfriend. She describes her immediate attraction, heightened when she visits his pristinely clean flat. This proves to be the domestic high-water mark, though, as he reverts to type once they cohabit – his domestic incompetence being either indolence or, more disconcertingly, even strategic. Marshall ends up performing all the household tasks, including cooking for her own surprise birthday party, while he slips off to the pub.

The audience are immersively involved in this unfolding narrative – a bold choice that appears to pay off, as they unreservedly revel in the antics. Marshall struts the space, bending even the hesitant to her will. They participate, witness, observe and become the fall guys for cleverly set-up jokes. Her playful style belies an impressive performance ability: when they go to couple’s counselling, she conveys a visceral yet measured rage; when she falls silent, it is deafening.

There is a message of female empowerment somewhere here, but it does not quite land in the melee. Louisa Marshall’s intense, energetic and powerful performance, however, promises much for the future.