Currently on at the Battersea Arts Centre, Caroline Horton’s 70 minute play is a real gem.

Based on the writer’s own background, the performance deals with the very difficult subject of eating disorders in a way that feels brave, authentic, and empathic. It is also at times very very funny, and wonderfully acted.

One had the sense at the end that everyone in the auditorium connected with the play, whether or not anorexia had touched their lives. For me, Mess represented one of those few moments where illness and the arts do truly connect, and thereby speak and listen to each other.

CQ