| 01 September 2010
Kristen Thomson is nothing short of amazing in this one-woman, coming-of-age drama about twelve-year-old Claudia’s struggle to cope with her parent’s divorce and her transition into adolescence. The witty, charming and moving script flows seamlessly from Thomson’s fully developed characterisation of a young Canadian girl to that of a Bulgarian janitor, the use of masks adding poignancy to the hidden desires and distresses vented by these two in the basement of Claudia’s school. The portrayals of Claudia’s grandfather and her father’s new wife, Lesley, add another dimension to the play’s questioning of whether the angst and insecurities experienced in youth ever truly disappear.
Both heartbreaking and hilarious, Claudia’s unusual and distinctive understanding of how the world should be, and how far it fails to live up to her expectations and desires, is delivered with compelling potency by Thomson. The slightly disturbing masks ensure that the audience remains a detached observer of this insight into a lonely and poetic young soul, aware that the often light-hearted, comic monologues of Claudia merely mask the deeper agony of a desperate and distraught girl. A beautiful study of what lies beneath the masks society encourages us to wear, Kristen Thomson’s performance and script are a stunning accomplishment.
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