Paul T Davies reviews Dear Little Miss presented by Headgate Young Company as part of the Colchester Fringe Festival.
Dear Little Miss.
The Headgate Theatre.
Launching the 2023 Colchester Fringe, the award-winning Headgate Young Company created this show, based on experiences of growing up female, and it’s light-hearted and poignant, with a strong sense of anger that is channelled correctly towards patriarchy.
Completely devised by the company, performers Alex Swan, Angharad Hickey, Charli Piper, Tilly Swan, and co-directors Tia Winterbottom and Maddy Smith, it’s a verbatim piece in which real-life experiences have been shaped and structured into a strong, tight production, there’s not a word wasted. There’s the innocence of seven-year-olds, “I found Mummy’s magic wand!”, the horrors and embarrassment of puberty, and the scary world of catcalling and being followed. It’s a call for better education of bodies, how the media sets impossible standards, and a call for change in attitudes. It’s performed with energy and commitment, and should be performed in schools, it’s entertaining and educative.
Some of the movement sequences were a little basic, but that also reflected the simplicity of the piece, and awkwardness in a changing body was very well portrayed. It’s inventive, honest, and beautifully performed, kicking off the Fringe with style!
