DID YOU KNOW FAIRIES ARE BORN BIG? Tink was a BIG, brilliant young fairy. Until one day, in a tragic cliché, Tink began to shrink. Tink is an imperfect, messy ‘female gaze fairytale’ in all its ugly glory. A nostalgic and thoroughly modern coming-of-age musical monologue navigating the complex social struggles of tweens, teens and full-on adulting.
As part of The Other Palace's Edinburgh Preview season in their studio theatre, Tink is (as the director told us before the show began) still a work in progress. Lizzy Connolly (director and writer) informed the audience that the show was being performed without finishing tech rehearsals, as they only had 2 hours in the theatre prior to the show. If she hadn't said that, I'd never have known as the show was faultless and ran incredibly smoothly for a show that was still being tweaked.
The show was performed by Kat Kleve, who is an amazing triple threat, not only playing multiple different parts with costume changes and lots of props, but also singing and playing all the music on a guitar live! She did all of that to an incredibly high standard too - a definite rising star. Although her character was a fairy, and it's obviously very hard for a human to relate to a fairy, Kat's performance was very relatable and it felt like she was having a friendly catch up with the audience, which I really liked. The show is a one-person musical, and the songs are really memorable (I'm humming a lot of the tunes in my head whilst writing this, which shows a great musical!). The songs had a modern, "poppy" feel rather then your classic musical theatre sound, and had a great mix of more upbeat songs with a couple of beautiful, slower songs which made me tear up a few times. As well as the amazing music, the show also uses sound in a clever way. This is achieved through sound effects and pre recorded audio which shows the atmosphere, settings and different characters and really made me immersed in their world. The staging is simple but effective with some beautiful rain-drop design lights at the back of the stage, which fit in with the setting and themes of the show. There was also a rug in the middle of the stage, a coat hook and a few props which were used throughout the performance.
Tink is a beautiful show in every aspect - beautiful staging, beautiful costumes, beautiful music - but most importantly a beautiful message. The show is all about being yourself, not worrying about fitting in and looking "cool" and letting your light shine. There's a line in the directors note in the programme from Lizzy which perfectly describes the overall message of the show, much better then I could. "All characters in the story are trying their best, interacting with society's expectations and demands, just like Tink. We are all great and terrible. It's okay to fail, come back better, bigger and try again.” I came out of the theatre more uplifted and confident than when I went in, and feel that everyone who feels they aren't good enough, or have been told they are "too much" and should try and fit in should watch this show, to know that it's OK to be yourself and to shine brighter then anyone else.
Tink plays at Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Underbelly Bistro Square from 2nd August until 20th August. For more tickets and information, you can follow the link here.
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AD | gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Camilla Adams