The Argus: fringe_2011_logo_red_thumb It's the story of a cheating husband, an anally retentive wife and the inevitable collapse of a cracked partnership.

Yet, in the ensuing delusion that such catastrophes create, performer Rachel Blackman and Stillpoint theatre company have created a journey of dark humour, self-induced disaster and twisted romance.

“The story is about someone who has made a lot of decisions in their life based on order and organisation – she has a mortgage and a full-time job working in the office of a massive corporation and is married to a bloke she doesn’t know if she loves.

"Then – for a whole bunch of reasons – it all falls apart over the course of a week. The play is what she does next,” explains performer Rachel Blackman.

“It looks at the all the different things, internally and externally, that are happening simultaneously around this experience. You’ve got one level of what’s happening inside her body, one in her mind and another in the world around her. I’m trying to convey all those things at once using different techniques.”

By using a variety of forms, including abstract dance techniques that express key characters’ unconscious actions, Blackman aims to inject a sense of humour into an otherwise explosive and dark tale.

“I come from an improvisation background and even though the shows are largely scripted, there are passages that are designed to be loose so that they can be made up on the spot with the audience that are there that night,” she says.

“It’s an unrepeatable experience that you wouldn’t get in any other context – that’s rare these days.”

Featuring a variety of characters, but only one cast member, Blackman plays all the parts in Helen’s world.

“She’s having this nervous breakdown, but there’s also a post–catastrophe Helen, who is a much calmer version of herself. She runs into a little boy on the train every time she goes to work and he acts as a bit of a truth-telling character, no matter how uncomfortable the truth – and there’s a woman she works with who is always upbeat and jovial. She hates her,” Blackman says.

“You get all sides of the story via these characters, and although the husband never actually appears, I thought it would be funny if – instead of meeting the woman he’s having an affair with – you met Helen’s projection of her. It’s dark but very funny, as it presents uncomfortable subjects in a comedic way.”

Blackman is no stranger to the stage, with appearances in comedy troupe the Ornate Johnsons, countless shows as one half of duo Katy and Rach and a part in Hollywood blockbuster Matrix: Revolutions, allowing her to incorporate comic and cinematic elements into her role as associate director for Stillpoint.

“I’m less influenced by theatre makers than I am film makers and poets. I’m also inspired by things that hit me in life – issues that touch me or relationships that set me on a path to thinking about a certain theme… I often think, ‘Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see that moment put in front of an audience?’” she says.

“Most of my inspiration comes from trying to get inside stories that don’t often get out, or stories that feel very intimate or uncomfortable but that I feel need to come out.”

Premiered at the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2008, The Art of Catastrophe kickstarts a trilogy of non-sequential works, completed by Steal Compass, Drive North, Disappear (also part of the Fringe) and the premiere of The Growing Room as part of this year’s Brighton Festival.

Each a one woman show starring Blackman, they all attempt to explore the world of love.

“All three of the works occupy different facets but I realised that I was still essentially working with the same theme – they all reveal different approaches to the idea of the struggle to love.

"That’s why I thought it would be really cool to offer these pieces as a triptych – three different influences on the same theme,” explains Blackman.

“The first one is about a woman, the second a man, and the third one is about a man and woman coming together. The first two are about departures and leaving a relationship, while the third is about coming together.

"I wanted to give some sense of resolution so I’m not just saying the world is bleak and s***.”