Written by Eleanor for Theatre & Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review

With just a walking pad, an exercise ball, and some brilliant audio and lighting design, Outpatient makes a powerful impact. Harriet Madeley masterfully tells the story of a brush with death, performing as Olive, a journalist who’s more used to covering the dramas of Love Island than tackling life’s biggest questions.

Craving something with more substance, something that usually goes unspoken, Olive sets out to understand death: what it feels like, and why we fear it so deeply. There’s just one problem. It’s quite hard to interview someone who knows what it feels like to die. The next best option? A palliative care ward.

Olive approaches the subject with a sense of detachment, firmly rooted in the belief that “it won’t happen to me.” But that all shifts during what should have been a routine doctor’s visit. A diagnosis of a rare disease suddenly changes everything. And if a doctor told you not to Google it, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Exactly.

Still, Olive does her best to stay light-hearted. She jokes that at least now her editor has no choice but to run the piece. Whether out of sympathy or simple shock value, the story suddenly sells itself. She starts to wonder if, strangely, this diagnosis might be the best thing that’s ever happened to her career.

We follow Olive as she navigates the reality of her situation, questioning her relationship, experimenting with hallucinogens, dealing with a friend who seems more concerned with her own feelings, and even squeezing in an audition for a reality singing competition.

Outpatient is a funny, heartbreaking, and deeply thought-provoking piece of fringe theatre. Madeley carries the entire show with a delicate balance of honesty and wit. And just when you think it’s a fictional tale, a final sequence of voice notes and real family photographs reveals the truth: this is her story.

A beautiful, brave and unforgettable one-woman performance.

‘Outpatient’ is at the Park Theatre until 7 June

★★★★★

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