Bibi Coucerio is an engaging performer. She has a way of gently confiding in the audience as if we really are in the group therapy session signposted on a whiteboard at the side of the black box. Her voice very rarely goes above a stage whisper. At least it feels that way. It’s so soothing it could almost be ASMR, albeit one of those ambiguous ASMR videos that tackle a darker theme in a way that could be cathartic, or ghoulish.

The show falls somewhere between those two extremes. It’s too meandering to be truly cathartic, and it’s too sincere to be ghoulish. Bibi has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, in her case, it presents as a need to do things three times that interferes with her love life. An abusive sexual assault made her OCD worse and now she fears she will never be normal. She’s angry at men, at society, at the world. Although she’s far too nice to let any of the anger actually show.

The niceness is a problem when it comes to expressing the material. Her inner war against the intrusive thoughts and ritualistic behaviours that rule her life, that causes her to seek refuge in the toilet, that prevents her from letting go in the bedroom, is so sweetly lacklustre that it seems more like youthful histrionics.

What shows it up more starkly is the contrast between Bibi’s wan reactions with the hard-hitting voice overs of women recounting their real life experiences of sexual assault and its aftermath that are interspersed throughout.

The three strands, love, OCD, and sexual assault would have to be woven into a much tighter plot to sit well together. It might have been better to concentrate on the OCD, rather than attributing it to a trauma and adding in experiences that have no obvious connection to OCD, or to her search for a partner. On the other hand, this is a story about a young woman finding herself, so perhaps jarring shifts in tone are more authentic.

There are some lovely flights of poetic fancy, the fact some of it is impossible to follow doesn’t seem to matter. The earnestness is endearing. Occasionally the audience is clearly bored, and no one recognised the end, despite it being, with hindsight, fairly obviously the end. The script could do with a few more drafts but the show is worth seeing. Coucerio is funny and charming, with a lot of potential, and many people will connect with her struggles, or wish her the best.

‘1, 2, 3. Shit. That’s My OCD‘ is at Gilded Balloon Patter House – Coorie until Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 17:40