THEATRE REVIEW: RAW! ASMR
2.09.2022 Basement Theatre
It begins with a gentle female voice echoing through the room. A cluster of fairy lights frame the stage, softly glowing in the dim. They illuminate a rectangular table (1.3 metres long, she makes sure to tell us) with an assortment of fruit and vegetables lined up along its middle. Banana, tomato, coconut, the voice begins listing. I spot a knife. A bottle of hand sanitizer. Sweet potato. Orange. Brussel sprouts. My friend Lucy glances at me, puzzled. A beetroot and a peeler are on the floor. I can’t see her yet, but I’m already enchanted by the lilting words drifting over my skin. I wonder what the knife is for.
Then it begins: an hour-long auditory experience, captained by ASMR “professional” (heavy emphasis on the quotation marks) Letitia Lickkit. In an extravagant, shimmering gold outfit, no less.
I have a confession to make – I’m an ASMR fan. It helps me fall asleep at night, or relax when I’m stressed or anxious. ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is that unique tingly sensation across your body when your ears encounter pleasant-sounding stimuli. When I realised that a show called RAW! ASMR was on at the Basement Theatre, I knew I had to go.
Letitia Lickkit, played by award-winning Amy Atkins, is an endearing-yet-slightly-terrifying creature. She’s passionate, well-spoken, and glides across the stage with captivating confidence. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Atkin’s full commitment to the character was impressive, full of quick quips and subtle slapstick humour. Her wide eyes roamed the crowd with a charming eccentricity, dragging me into her gravitational pull. One of my favourite things about RAW! ASMR was Atkin’s ability to include the audience in the performance. We were all in on the joke, laughing with her rather than at her, with Letitia’s buoyant dedication to her craft the core of the show. Her gradual descent into a crazed character is well-paced, with Atkins stripping back Letitia layer by layer until I genuinely feared she would storm into the audience. She’s scarily accurate with that knife. Sometimes I felt the jokes were a little repetitive, losing their sharpness over time. It was never unintentionally awkward or unfunny, but the script may have benefited from a little more diversity; Letitia Lickkit has the complexity for a multi-angled approach. Regardless, I was highly impressed by the skill and tenacity Atkins displayed while carrying this one-woman performance.
Letitia Lickkit, played by award-winning Amy Atkins, is an endearing-yet-slightly-terrifying creature. She’s passionate, well-spoken, and glides across the stage with captivating confidence.
The audio-visual experience of RAW! ASMR was a prominent highlight. Atkins transported me directly into a strange, off-kilter whispering world, something akin to watching an ASMR video on YouTube while under the influence. She combined breathy whispering with an articulate, demonstrative tone, constantly playing into the pseudo-serious nature of Letitia’s job. A small camera was propped up on stage, live-streamed to a screen behind her. This created fantastic comedic layering as Atkins ensured to angle the camera into the most terrifying positions imaginable. There’s nothing quite like gazing deep into the hole of someone’s throat. The number of “triggers” Atkins had at her disposal – most of which were highly questionable – made for an incredibly entertaining watch. I did, in fact, experience ASMR while watching the show. I asked Lucy whether she also did. “At the start,” she said. “Before things went— you know.” Ah, yes. Letitia Lickitt is full of surprises.
Regardless of your knowledge of ASMR, you’ll enjoy this performance. Part demonstration, part dramatic role-play, it’s rather difficult to define. The line between Atkins and Letitia becomes blurred. I spent as much time relaxed as I did gripping Lucy’s arm, recoiling as far back in my seat as possible. I think that’s what the genius of the show is. It operates in the space between pleasure and pain, the lovely tingling of ASMR and the nauseating shudders of revulsion. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat another banana for as long as I live.
■
You can book your tickets to RAW! ASMR here!
Creator: Amy Atkins
Director: Sara Hirsch
Devised with: Amy Booth AKA Booth the Clown, Bethany Miller, Liz Buttler, Pája Neuhöferov, and Jen O’Sullivan