Holly Spillar review: Hole is an ethereal and enthralling hour from a one-of-a-kind talent
Every year, I see someone do five minutes on a mixed bill that I can’t shake. I have to make sure everyone knows who they are and goes to see them at the first possible chance. Holly Spillar is this year’s that person. I saw her sing about her NHS-prescribed dildos at a showcase in Brighton in June and immediately she went straight to the top of my Edinburgh list.
Her debut Hole is an ethereal exploration of her experiences with vaginismus (the vagina muscles contracting involuntarily when you try to insert something in it), the difficulty of getting a diagnosis and navigating sex. Or as Holly puts it at the opening of the show: “I’m looking for a pole that fits my hole.”
Beginning with a kazoo and an excellent impression of Lorde, she’s a wizard on a loop pedal. The hour has a dream-like quality to it, thanks partly to Holly’s angelic, echoing voice and partly to the layering harmony over harmony that makes the room feel like a tropical rainforest of sound. It’s more than human.
Through university sexual encounters to medical appointments, Hole emphasises how our society is constructed around male pleasure, more often than not at the expense of everyone else’s pain. The young men who see her vaginismus as a challenge, as flirting or as a weird sort of feminist test come from the same mould as the doctor who pushes the picture of his wife to the front of his desk to make sure she knows he’s married, and then prescribes her numbing gel. Numbing gel, so her boyfriend can feel good and she can feel nothing.
The construction of this show is complex and brilliantly done, reaching a triumphant high with a song about finally getting a female doctor who knows what to do, as well as a nod to Gillian Anderson (who played a therapist in tv show Sex Education — which is, actually, the only reason I had ever heard of vaginismus before this). Her comic timing and lyrics are fantastic, and never over-egged.
Amongst the music, there are so many important conversations to be had. At the crux of the show, Holly is brought to realise that her experiences with the health system in this country, as dire as they were, put her in a privileged position. To even have an NHS to turn to is more than many of the other people with this condition have, demonstrated by a song about trying to work out which vegetables are the most insertable.
With all that said, what makes this show the enthralling success that it is, is Holly. The character of Hole is uniquely hilarious and vulnerable. Holly Spillar should be someone you hear about often in the coming years; a one-of-a-kind talent.
Holly Spillar: Hole runs at Underbelly Bristo Square (Buttercup), 2:15pm, until August 28th. Tickets here.
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