REVIEW: Habits, Gooseneck Theatre Company, EdFringe 2026 ★★

Rita has to pee. I know it, she knows it, and her poor friend backstage knows it. But this is more than theatre: this is exposure therapy.

Rita really wants to be telling us her quaint tale of geese, foxes, and bees, but her OCD won’t let her. Backstage, her friend (?) is poised, ready to force her to keep going, no matter how much her intrusive thoughts tell her that she has to stop to go to the toiled. Armed with a big red button that allows her to “pause” the show, Rita begs, pleads with, and blackmails her friend to let her out. Bonds are tested, resolve wavers, and the isolation of living with OCD is drawn to the fore.

Estefany Perez’s performance is complex and vulnerable and we can’t help liking Rita, even as she is being really pretty horrible to the poor acquaintance that she’s roped into this experiment. She treads lightly, treating the delicate subject matter with care and respect.

The writing stales quite quickly, leaving little room for the stakes to rise as it becomes clear relatively early on that Rita will not be making it through the performance as planned, and that this is a supremely bad idea. Past this point, there is little keeping our attention, as the same ground is trodden over and over. 

The biggest missed opportunity is in the writing of the play that Rita was supposed to be performing, which could have drawn out key themes, allegorised Rita’s journey, or juxtaposed the message in an interesting way. Instead, it seems to have been plucked from the air, or from a dusty book of fairytales. It is trite, and given little weight in either the script or the direction. This, coupled with Rita’s costume design, creates a slightly uncomfortable and distracting infantilising effect, which I don’t believe was intentional.

I think that the metatheatricality of this project would have worked far better as a two-hander. Having the offstage character function as the tech operator and usher, allowed to speak, and physically standing between Rita and the door would have been a far more impactful way to explore this genuinely singular idea.

An earnest and vulnerable performance with a kernel of the remarkable at its centre, Habits is a quirky, bittersweet exploration of what it takes to challenge yourself. I really hope that Gooseneck Theatre continues to challenge themselves, and see where this concept can take them.

Drink recommendation: Probably best not to take a drink in to this one – don’t want to have to run out to the bathroom!

You can catch Habits at Just Out Of The Box at Just The Tonic at The Caves from 20-30 August at 22:40 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.