no no no please no god no, nevermind i'm fine

Someone describing an LSD trip is, famously, even more boring than someone describing the ‘crazy’ dream they had last night. Yet New York-based artist Sarina Freda, in her Fringe debut, manages to make this hour about a “harrowing” acid trip completely compelling. It helps that she’s quick to self-parody, framing the show as if she’s sat on a talk show couch with girlboss wellness guru Gwyneth Paltrow. But the story she tells quickly (and smartly) ditches any familiar format or formula, and instead layers lucid realities on top of each other – each as dizzyingly ‘real’ as the last.

Freda is a brave, versatile performer. When No no no... becomes increasingly physical, she veers between flatline depression, buzzing anxiety and the most dangerous kind of rose-tinted, delusional optimism with remarkable control. Clear direction from Tom Costello and sharp sound design by Nicholas Webster help to render the absurdities of a world seen through psychedelics, although the third act loses nuance in its frenzied repetitions. The show’s meta-theatrical ‘what if?’s get tangled in the ensuing chaos, but Freda is a whirlwind of energy, and her audience is fully strapped in for this stomach-churning, genuinely funny tumble down the rabbit hole.