Review: She at Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton

That, and the image of a knife smothered in blood, is all you are given.

The meaning is a mystery. Having seen the excellent M. Night Shyamalan thriller Split this week one's mind drifted to thoughts of a similar scenario.

The quaint Arena Theatre was a welcome embrace on a cold and unforgiving evening. With our coats off and seats taken we were greeted by what seemed like three separate characters sat, not enjoying but enduring an evening meal out.

But it soon transpires we are actually looking at three facets of the same woman's personality; the comical, the foul mouthed and the slightly prissy, Hermione Grainger-esque goody two shoes in between.

We are taken into her consciousness. Her thoughts on the world around her. Her struggles with her mother. Her lack of a love life and her disasters with internet dating.

But among the frustrations we find her favourite release – catching up with her old friend Kate. At first a seemingly inconsequential character, Kate slowly grows in stature before their futures become as interwoven as their past. In fact, the hour-long play's best moments come when Kate and our heroine Shelly's let loose over a few glasses of wine.

We learn more and more about a slightly sinister secret within Shelly's heart and it all begins to make sense as to why she is mostly alone.

This is a deeply feminist tale, a strong female character who tells us the world as she sees it without really caring if she offends us. She is not afraid to be frank, as the early C-bomb reveals and she sure as hell doesn't want us to judge her just because she is still single and childless.

The three facets of her consciousness work well together, finishing each other's sentences – a couple of slips and guffed lines aside – and bringing laughs from the audience with scathing put downs for each other's views on life. Although it has to be said all four female leads were watchable and engaging.

The ending will come as a surprise and slightly takes away from the feminist message, but it certainly gets you talking as you leave the auditorium as to the rights and wrongs of what Shelly has done.

And that, after all, is the whole point of art, is it not?

By Leigh Sanders