Reviews for Whole 2025

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“My sister smells of wood smoke, warm earth, oranges, and dust… we buried you in a wood underneath an oak tree. There are bluebells there in Spring.”

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I had the privilege of reviewing Whole, written and performed by Emma Spearing, at the Mercury Studio. Following her identical twin sister’s death, Emma has created and curated the most beautiful piece about grief. At every performance, a volunteer joins Emma on stage to help her perform the show.

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At the Mercury it was the brilliant Katie, so open, so willing to share her personal grief, and creating such a strong bond of trust. We are witnesses and part of the safeguarding steps, and, which is quite exceptional, the entire theatre becomes a safe space for the sharing of this story. We feel held.

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Grief is overwhelming, inhibiting, brutal. But it can also be tender and gentle, and the evocation of memory can be powerful, and a tribute to the person lost.

Charlie was a spiritual, strong-willed person, and her love of nature allows Emma to create visual imagery, together with the volunteer, and many scenes – not least an arrogant ginger tom – will stay with me.

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It’s hard not to use the word brave when describing this show. It is raw, honest, unique. But it never feels intrusive.

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It observes Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief in a beautifully flowing and perfectly structured way. Anger towards the charlatan Stephen, who has become rich by exploiting the vulnerability of sick people, is triumphantly dealt with, and the closeness of nature and reference to crows brought to mind the poetical lament of Max Porter’s Grief is the Thing with Feathers.

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There are revelations beautifully placed, especially towards the end of the show – hidden parts of the set that evoke the final journey. The direction by Kirsty Housley is sensitive and paced beautifully, and the performers are given space to talk and share.

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It’s music, however, that opened up my grief — a Kate Bush song we all know and all share in — the personal becoming universal. (There’s a song by Michael Ball, my mum’s favourite, played at her funeral that I can’t really listen to anymore.)

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Here, the movement conveys so many things: the strength, the defiance, the whole messy business of death and life.

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Each performance of this remarkable piece will be different, but it will also hold you and allow you to leave enhanced and, dare I say it, whole. Beautiful theatre. Review of opening night at Mercury theatre by Theatre critic Paul T Davis

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Reviews for Work-in-Progress WHOLE 2021

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'Spearing’s frank and starkly emotional Whole, is a whirlwind both in terms of its form and its affect. Blending dance, poetry and spoken word, Spearing flickers between extreme emotions, sometimes existing within multiple emotions at once. Simultaneously heartbreakingly tender and searingly angry, Spearing represents the insurmountable tumult of grief with devastating accuracy. 

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Spearing speaks with conflicting emotions about the spiritual, mystical aspects of her life... Holding these contradictory feelings at the same time, and expressing that contradiction truthfully and without minimising either side is a truly incredible feat, one which Spearing pulls off with great success. This conflicted spirituality permeates the piece, granting it an almost transcendental quality.' - Theatre review Blog Full review here: emma-spearings-whole-

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'An Awe inspiring and haunting performance' - Audience Member

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'A phenomenal piece of theatre. Last night's performance by Emma Spearing of her own one-woman play "Whole: Work in Progress" at Arcola Outside was an incredibly courageous and deep exploration of what it means to be left behind when someone you love intensely dies. The work expertly and emotionally confounds so many myths about grief whilst adding new insights of its own. It was like being given access to selected events from Emma's own diary; full of the joys, regrets, rage, tears and laughter of years of knowing someone so well and yet not knowing them half as well as you would like. I can't imagine seeing a better written or better performed story this year and it reduced my other half to a sobbing, if very grateful, wreck. Full marks to the staging and sound design too ... even if some of the intricacies of the audio got lost in the seemingly never-ending police sirens of Dalston Junction. A life experience I am very, very honoured to have had.' Audience Member at Arcola

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'So very powerful, raw, direct. Not like anything I have seen on stage before.' Audience member 

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Previous Version of WHOLE Trailer Work in Progress (2021/22)