Somewhat formally indebted to Sarah Kane’s ‘4.48 Psychosis’ (albeit not as bleak) I suppose you’d call it a play for voices. It’s performed by four actors – Moronkẹ Akinola, Eleanor Henderson, Eve Ponsonby and Ragevan Vasan –who throw themselves into the role emotionally, but don’t do a lot of body acting, their most ostentatious movements involving creating sound effects from the variety of props scattered on the desks they stand behind. It is ultra-minimalist: there is no set designer, and reclaimed materials are used to craft what set there is. Mitchell’s usual sound designer Melanie Wilson is on hand to add atmospheric flourishes, notably an injection of ambient dread at the right moments and a few swish surround sound effects (Wilson’s design does a lot more heavy lifting than the foley-ish interventions of the actors, it has to be said). It would work almost as well on radio, although there’s something profoundly affecting about the way Bethany Gupwell’s lighting drops to almost total darkness during the last minutes. What came across strongly about Watson’s book specifically, is that half of every discussion is focused on the layout, and form of the writing, and the second part focuses on the content. This is true of most on line interviews too. This debut novel will I think be one of the most innovative I read in 2021 – and I would be not be surprised to see it featuring on both the Women’s Prize and Goldsmith Prize lists. The Goldsmith was of course won in its first year by Eimear McBride’s harrowing stream-of-consciousness novel “A Girl is a Half Formed Thing” which is the only time ever I have listened to an audiobook as a way of gaining entry to a book I had found it difficult to access in print (just for reference in a typical year I read around 150 novels and listen to 0 audiobooks) – allowing me then to read the novel. Inspired by a true story and set in her home county of Somerset, Nell Leyshon’s beautiful new play features live folk song. In Little Scratch Rebecca Watson captures the disarray of human consciousness as a woman goes through the course of a day. Despite being initially unsure about the experimental format, I didn’t find it hard work at all. My brain loved the parallel thoughts and the agency this gave me as a reader. Whilst others have disagreed, I found the protagonist’s often self-conscious inner narrative believable and relatable.

when I write a diary (when I did) or notes (which has not been for a long time yes great I know) (no not since, nothing since) but when I did, it was always there – the other – the performance of writing! I write thinking someone is looking in, translate my thoughts into something a little prettier, more heightened than my actual head, context handily supplied ……….Overall I thought this was an excellent and impactful book treating an important if difficult subject –#MeToo and sexual assault in the workplace and female agency in the face of male obliviousness. If a man says a certain sort of man that is says nice shoes he is not saying nice shoes he is saying I am itemising you” (54) I did like the use of side by side columns in Little Scratch, not least to differentiate and match up two sides of a conversation. Auditory Guidance: The production uses techniques that may impact audience members who experience misophonia. There are ear defenders available at the box office.

For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Not a false note anywhere’: Eve Ponsonby, Eleanor Henderson, Morónkẹ́ Akinọlá and Ragevan Vasan in Little Scratch. Photograph: Robert Day Miriam Battye makes her Hampstead debut. Recent credits include Scenes With Girls at the Royal Court, Big Small Lost Found Things at Bristol Old Vic and All Your Gold at Theatre Royal Plymouth. Television work includes Dead Ringers. She is the recipient of the 2020 Harold Pinter Commission. Rebecca Watson’s novel works magnificently on stage. Miriam Battye and Katie Mitchell have turned 24 hours inside a frenzied mind into something like a piece of music’ Evening Standard little scratch is a little miracle… impossible to read it and not wish there were more books like it.’ Alan Trotter

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I love a circadian narrative and had heard interesting things about the experimental style used in this debut novel. I even heard Watson read a passage from it as part of a Faber online preview event and found it very funny and engaging. But I really should have tried an excerpt before requesting this for review; I would have seen at a glance that this wasn’t for me. I don’t have a problem with prose being formatted like poetry ( Girl, Woman, Other, Stubborn Archivist, the prologue of Wendy McGrath’s Santa Rosa), but here it seemed to me that it was only done to alleviate the tedium of the contents. Even as I wrote the review it was tempting to refer to elements of the plot that fit closely what I understand of the author’s life and experiences (in a way I am all too conscious I am far more likely to do with a female rather than make author). And very knowingly by the author the one time when the book diverts to a WhatsApp group chat (otherwise the narrator leaves them unread, instead just communicating with her Mum and her Him) it is for a brief discussion on female auto-fiction. Miriam Battye and Katie Mitchell have turned 24 hours inside a frenzied mind into something like a piece of music' T he story works on several levels and, within a minute, can draw both wry humour and gnawing horror from office life, and find weary familiarity and startling surprise in everyday routines.'

Extract, from the original short story, with a nice plug for a book from the wonderful Fitzcarraldo Editions Taking our seat and looking up at a simple set of microphone stands, lights overhead each one, immediately gives a sense of the context of this production - to be seen and to be heard is extremely important. As the show progresses, brilliant lighting design by Bethany Gupwell acts to reflect the changing energy and a subtle fading allows us to release a breath we didn’t realise we were holding. It’s an adaptation of arts journalist Rebeca Watson’s acclaimed leftfield novel, which follows an unnamed woman’s day from waking up to falling asleep. It’s told via a first-person stream of consciousness that digresses freely while always naggingly returning to the protagonist’s recent rape by her boss, which she has told nobody about, but has clearly caused tremendous trauma, including the titular physical manifestation of scratching herself violently. By the end, as she slides into sleep, still pursued by the unspoken anguish she’s suppressing, the lights dim until the performers’ faces resemble masks floating in the darkness. Watching – and hearing – the narrative unspool with the theatrical mechanics laid bare makes it realer, more raw. As her day progresses it becomes apparent that the anxiety has already scaled the walls of her psyche, bruised trauma lingers cancerously and manifests in habitually scratching. She struggles to conceptualise the trauma of workplace sexual assault and cannot decide how to tell her boyfriend that she has been raped.Adapted from Rebecca Watson’s ‘daringly experimental debut’ novel (The Guardian, 2020), little scratch is a fearless and exhilarating account of a woman’s consciousness over the course of 24 hours. The charged narrative records in precise detail her impressions of a deceptively ordinary day - the daily commute, office politics and a constant barrage of texts on WhatsApp – and as the day goes on, she gradually starts to unveil the trauma of a rape that is consuming her.

In interviews it’s like a dance as Watson frequently felt she was being pushed to say that the story was autobiographical. Its not. Some interviews were really uncomfortable as a consequence. A superb staging, this version of the dazzling book achieves the same lingering power using a quartet of actors’ The Guardian The story originally started life as a prize shortlisted short story – and that story forms the midpoint of the day and is reproduced in full in the novel and gives a good sense of the book – much better than I think I have or can manage or that the formatting on Goodreads easily allows. The cast features Morónkẹ́ Akinọlá ( The Niceties, Finborough Theatre), Eleanor Henderson ( Pass It On, Lyric Hammersmith), Eve Ponsonby ( Longing, Hampstead) and Ragevan Vasan ( Name, Place, Animal, Thing, Almeida). little scratch brings us into a day in the life of a woman making her way in the workforce of London, dealing with sexual harassment and her own thoughts.Mitchell’s usual sound designer Melanie Wilson is on hand to add atmospheric flourishes, notably an injection of ambient dread at the right moments and a few swish surround sound effects.' The message of the story is important but you will have to work hard and be focused to receive it and follow along. The title itself is a tongue-in-cheek description of what the character experiences. A scratch is something very minor, inconsequential and nothing life-altering. Life moves on and she’s supposed to carry on with her life as if nothing happened yet in actuality what she experiences and the trauma that follows is giant, deep and all consuming. Why can’t I praise a woman’s shoes, is the strident reaction. This clearly misses the point that not every man is being creepy, but it is important (should be obvious) that all men start to recognise this type of male gaze even if they are not personally culpable. The text seems to be partly autobiographical. Like the narrator, Watson has worked at various roles in her life (as an assistant, waitress, cleaner) where she was at the bottom of the power chain: “I have been screamed at, groped, and patronised in various junior jobs. What has always been clear is that while some enjoy the power, others seem to genuinely believe that the divide in front of them is dictated by God, that hierarchy has a moral, qualitative value.” ( Source) The most original idea I took from the book is that it’s OK for a victim of rape to think in terms that are highly sexual, and passionate. Watson’s language of sex is graphic, assertive and quite a contrast to stories in which rape happens and the victim is left traumatised at the thought of future sex.