Writer: Liv Rocklin
Director: Hallie Rae Sebastian
Choreographer: Alice Zelenko
In a venue tucked away in a small close near the National Museum of Scotland, in an upstairs room, Liv Rocklin is rocking out. Despite only being in her mid-twenties, the Chicago-born New Yorker has put together a musical show looking back at the story of her life so far.
It’s real heart-on-sleeve stuff: we get a deeply personal tale about Tourette syndrome (but without the swearing), gluten intolerance (but not celiac disease) and obsessive compulsive disorder (but not the type that makes you clean a lot). She promises a future show about weight gain and loss (but a fun one). The mind boggles somewhat (but maybe in a good way).
Liv’s tales are punctuated by wry and witty songs strummed on her guitar and sung with gusto. Central to her story is the crushing disappointment of having to return home in March 2020, much earlier than planned, when she was spending a semester in Paris as part of her university’s ‘study abroad’ programme.
She’d come so far in terms of acting out her childhood dream – of living The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) only in Paris instead of Rome – complete with meeting a cute European guy and allowing herself to be led slightly astray. Puzzlingly, she ends the romance even before she’s untimely ripped from Paris. So it’s the city not the dude she hankers after during the pandemic and beyond.
Through much of the show the audience is wondering: if you miss Paris so much, why don’t you go back? Soon we get an answer. Spending time in London, Liv moots the possibility that she might return to the City of Love. An Australian acquaintance, even less committed to producing clear diction than offering meaningful advice, tells her: “Yaur, why naur?” Hilariously, Liv has immortalised this bodged phrase as one of several stickers you can take home after the show.
She finally returns to Paris and finds it’s still there – but she’s moved on. As with many stories of regret it was the moment that was lost; a discovery that’s highly relatable.
Runs until 30 August 2026 | Image: Contributed
