**** 4 STARS ****
How can you get through everyday life, bubbling under the surface? When rage begins to boil, what comments will make you pop? Performance and spoken word artist, Martha Pailing, explores the stigma of female rage and the impact that this has on their wellbeing through a combination of live art and spoken word.
If you could design a set for a visual, live performance art piece, Pailing’s design hits the spot. Simple yet powerful, the boiling kettle is a true signifier of the bubbling rage that society expects women to suppress to save others from the discomfort of a woman lashing out. Having a minimalistic set helped to convey Pailing’s political message and places a great emphasis on the precision of each moment spent onstage. Pailing highlights the issue with society’s perception of female rage and she embodies this throughout the piece.
An unforgettable opening – a woman, on her knees, inhabiting a raging dog. The thought of the image evokes laughter, with the aggressive barking towards the audience, however this image is the provocative and pinnacle moment when an audience truly realises the journey of the show that they are in for. This, in combination with the thought of urinating in a person’s garden, allows the presentation of a so-called hysterical woman to be gruesome and animalistic, if a little comedic. Pailing is relentless and balances the vulnerability of being a woman in the 21st century with the passion to defy traditional conventions of female rage.
Pailing’s work is not just that of an activist, but one of true flair. Their spoken word is a mastery of art, and her delivery hits every punch that it needs to deliver her message. Paling is a fighter, and their work has so much to shout about. The moments of audience participation were inclusive and engaged each person at exactly the right moment. Being able to fling balls of paper onto the stage whilst having a space to write their thoughts out, meant that Paling had the power to hold up their audience’s experiences and give them the opportunity to release a pocket of their rage.
Chat Shit, Get Hit is the piece that people do not realise that they need. A friend, a fighter, a fellow female who can share their experience of being angry as a woman in today’s world. Pailing brings a new perspective to the table: her art is raw and real and ready for the world to see.
To hear more from Martha Pailing, follow them on Instagram.
Harley Keasey 
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