The Fringe is back at the Holden Street Theatres in Hindmarsh. The small theatres they are a Fringe wonder and everyone should experience at least one show each year of the Fringe at Holden Street, if not more.

Mustard is a one woman show, presented by Irish playwright Eva O’Connor. It is a dark comedy about heartbreak, madness and condiments.

The build-up of the first half is all about love and sex. Eva meets the man of her dreams; a rich professional cyclist and the sex is wonderful. But of course, it cannot last and in the second half of the play Eva plummets into a black hole of heartbreak at the speed of a doped-up cycle team in the tour de France.

Eva’s delivery is full of rich descriptive words and metaphors. It’s as if she has a saying about everything. “I tightrope through a supermarket like an alcoholic” is one example, “love hits in the pubic bone like a train” another. Her expressive face can light up the room or carry the audience to sadness or anger with her.

The show is staged with just a few simple props. An inflatable child’s pool, a clothes line, some towels and a bucket of water. E alludes to the condiment, mustard many times during the performance but it would be giving it away if it is explained what happens with mustard.

Mustard is a compelling tale of sex, love and rejection. As E says during the show about the condiment mustard, “The searing yellow pain and the shame of it”

The shame would be if you miss this electrifying performance of Mustard.