One-woman show by Celeste Cahn – a tour de force in comedy and insight
At the Hen & Chickens Theatre last night, Celeste Cahn gave what was nothing more than a stunning performance. In this whirlwind one-woman show, Cahn takes the audience through the vagaries of growing up as a girl in a world full of patriarchal expectations. With quick wit and a shower of impressive dialects, she brought forth a myriad of characters, all while wearing the same costume. The result was a 55-minute single-act master class on how to construct a comedic tale with a biting social commentary.
The 12-year-old narrator, a character she plays with such a great deal of authenticity, takes the audience on a wild ride through all trials and tribulations associated with girlhood. Battling day-to-day demons that every woman can recognize—from oppressive beauty standards to internalized shame and the allure of toxic relationships—Cahn plays with a brilliant fusion of both humor and poignancy. Although based in a particular cultural context, it represents common experiences of women everywhere. The heavy themes particularly resonate well with Cahn’s use of humor. She reimagines familiar characters from idolized stories in one’s childhood and uses them to symbolize societal pressures on women. Mrs. Potts, now long from the comforting teapot in Disney, becomes a repressive voice that polices female sexuality. The “beast” that many women find themselves attracted to symbolizes dangerous allure to the wrong men—this is a poignant commentary on toxic relationships, so often romanticized in society.
One of the most compelling aspects of the show is her ability to critique the very narratives many women were raised on. Stories as young girls that not only reinforced restrictive gender roles but also told us our value resided in our physical beauty and the ability to land ourselves a man, Cahn does not simply question these narratives; she deconstructs them with biting satire and raw emotion. However, it came at a cost for some characters. For example, Cahn used the character of Bella—a ‘pretty girl’—as a vessel to carry society’s idolization of beauty and dismissiveness toward women who lack in that conventional mould of beauty. This is a valid criticism, but it does come off a little one-dimensional. She represents all these issues in a way that makes one laugh and at the same time shows deep emotional feelings, making the audience realize certain uncomfortable truths while they are entertained to their fullest.
Such is Cahn’s versatility as a performer that she convinces—this one moment, she’s this character, and the next, she’s that—all with only her voice and a couple of subtle mannerisms and props to differentiate. That is almost a magic trick: to capture these very different personalities through quite distinct and very real accents, all wearing the same costume. Every one of her characters is so fleshed out that following the twists and turns in the story is easy.
Certainly one of the more memorable moments of the evening was when Cahn, in character, asked someone in the audience to come up and assess her kissing skills. That bind embodied in itself the conceptual strands of self-doubt, the desire for social approval, and the craving for validation. The audience gasped in laughter, awkwardness, and eventually rose to its feet—a testament to the deft handling by Cahn of just such delicate emotions.
Previously, Cahn has enthralled audiences in New York; with this performance, she proves in London to be a real force. The way she involves the audience as the audience and part of her journey creates an absolutely blurred boundary between performance and reality, leaving it in the memory of all present. In a culture that is booming with messages as to how women must look, act, and love, Celeste Cahn’s one-woman show provides needed refreshment. It brings indictment on these pressures but also some overdue applause to the strength and humour it takes just to get by. This is a performance that will make you laugh and think and wonder about the stories you have been telling yourself.
“The narrative is as much mine as is every girl’s in this society, and not bound by geography. I have seen drastic reactions by women during my performance, they either love it or walk out of it,” says the playwright/performer herself. Do not miss the occasion to witness this marvel talent in action either on the 17th or 18th of August at 3.00 pm at Hens and Chicken Theatre for a rather bold, daring, hilarious, and soulful take on womanhood.