Review: STICKY DOOR, VAULT Festival

Katie Arnstein returns to VAULT Festival after Bicycles and Fish and Sexy Lamp to complete her It's a Girl! trilogy, presenting Sticky Door directed by Ellen Havard. The play details a year in her life, examining how in 2014 she started the journey to reclaim her body and mind while being severely depressed.

Leaving an agent and a boyfriend behind, it's New Year's Eve when she decides that she's going to live the high life sleeping with one man per calendar month without getting attached or accidentally starting a relationship with them. Her plan slowly backfires when, by July, the clear signs of depression start to appear. Told with Arnstein's own branded style of comedy, she is heartbreaking in her effortless humour.

Her self-deprecatory attitude and no-nonsense approach to the tale are as delightful as ever, and the subtle change in tone mid-show comes as a punch to the gut. A big smile on her face and a cheery delivery create a harrowing oxymoron as she the audience about her slow spiral and buried trauma that led her to being unable to leave her flat.

This is Arnstein's strength: she tears down all barriers and stigma with positivity by bringing her own actions on stage, proving to everyone that it's okay not to feel okay and we're all subjected to everyday tragedies. She touches upon the therapeutic nature of writing, and the act of creation becomes recovery while she stresses the importance of fighting back.

Her new piece is astonishing in wit and lyrical inclination. Her songs are charming devices that move the action as well as highlight certain themes of the play. In her stride, she tackles her fear of men, misogyny, sex, the uneasy sense of not feeling safe in her own spaces, and everything in between.

Her bluntness is refreshing and never clichéd, while she handles the more somber scenes with aplomb and courage. Even during the more painful moments of her latest work, she never abandons her trademark comedic brilliancy and manages to find humour at the darkest hour. This is Arnstein at her best.

Sticky Door runs at VAULT Festival until 16 February.