Social media is a place for sharing, but as we lead more of our lives online, when does the urge to connect become destructive? The question permeates writer and performer Eleanor Hill’s show, a tour through personal crises, mediated by the compulsion to broadcast it all online.
Hill livestreamed her very real breakdown on Instagram in 2020, when she was struggling to access mental health support during the Covid pandemic. She turned that experience into video monologues, which became a 2023 Edinburgh fringe show. This expanded version, pertinently re-branded as Overshare, tells us “90% of these stories are real”.
That initial breakdown is replicated here. While Constance Villemot’s set portrays a bedroom in chaos, Hill clings to her phone throughout, and footage from her front-facing camera appears to us, supersized, as we become part of her live stream’s audience.
The effect is interesting. It’s sometimes difficult to see Hill – instead eyes are drawn to her digital presence, sound slightly out-of-sync, creating a distance. It’s one her persona feels too: “If I could see you, I would not share this much.” Pop-up memes and clips from Hill’s real Instagram account create a busy backdrop.
We hop between different live streams, piecing together Hill’s story – the loss of her mum, life with her greengrocer dad, low moods and an increasingly toxic relationship with older man Mark. The show succeeds in showing the repetitive, unglamorous slog of psychological survival: every day as a new start, finding something positive to see you through the night. There’s humour too, particularly in scenes about stalking Mark online and using her live streams to catch his attention.
Overshare poses intriguing questions about both online life and autobiographical theatre, but the interrogation is frustratingly ambivalent. What led her to livestreaming? Did it help or hinder her mental state? Who was watching? There are shades of Netflix drama You, as Hill turns the camera on the theatre audience and asks why we want to consume her pain. “My life isn’t a movie,” she reminds us. “I’m a real person.” Being invited to pass judgment on a show like this is an interesting provocation.
At Greenwich Theatre, London, until 25 May
In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978
