Music: Kat Kleve
Director: Lizzy Connolly
Tink is a must-see show. No arguments or debates, it just is. It should also be performed to Year 7 students in every school in the country as part of the PSHE curriculum, such is its strength of message and skill of presentation. For Tink is much more than the tale of a fairy who began to shrink and it is not about the Tinkerbell we already know from Peter Pan. Tink is a powerful, warm-hearted spoken word piece, punctuated with witty and poignant songs, tackling what it is to be female in today’s society through the eyes of five year old, then 12 year old, then 17, 18 and 21 year old Tink, whose fairy world seems remarkably similar and relatable to our own.
The show is performed by Kat Kleve, a Norwegian-Bristolian who co-wrote the show with brilliant director Lizzy Connolly, and she is instantly likeable and easy to watch. She has charisma and charm, her eyes sparkle when she performs and she is confident, but not arrogant or over-confident. Kleve makes the audience feel instantly comfortable, and they are taken with her on her journey through life as a female fairy and watch as the energetic, funny and powerful child has her light dimmed stage by stage as she gets older. Mean comments, back-handed compliments and outright nastiness contribute to the chipping away of her sense of self-identity and the fracturing of her confidence, and so she begins to shrink. But Tink’s light does not remain dim forever, and as she regains her inner strength, her light begins to shine again and she shrinks no more – and thank goodness as the audience would have rioted if not.
Kleve is endearing and the narrative and songs are both clever and poignant, entrancing the audience throughout. Nods and noises of affirmation and appreciation came time after time as Tink’s fairy trials and tribulations reflected so accurately those of mothers and daughters sitting in front of her in real life.
This show is the perfect combination of wit, charm and storytelling and needs to be seen by mothers, daughters, grandmothers and just as importantly by sons, fathers and grandfathers. This is such an important message, beautifully told. Go and see it.
Runs until 20 August 2023 | Image: Contributed
