As a part of the 2024 Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, HER Productions brings Sunny Girl to the stage at Salford University’s New Adelphi Theatre.  Previously a finalist in The Hope Mill Theatre’s 2021 writing competition ‘Through The Mill’, Sunny Girl is a one hour, one-hander show, written and performed by Beth Westbrook.

The play centres around the life of Erin and is set within her “mind palace”.  Erin has gone through life never feeling quite normal and struggling to fit in with others or keep control over everything.  She seeks an explanation as to why she isn’t normal to give her some clarity and control over her life, and that explanation seems to come in the form of an Autism diagnosis.  Family, platonic and romantic relationships through various stages in Erin’s life are also discussed, to show how different people have had positive or negative effects on her diagnosis journey and younger life.  Across the hour onstage, Erin explains some of the symptoms and traits associated with Autism and takes the audience on a journey through her mind palace to look back on various memories throughout her life that correlate with typically autistic traits in order to support her case for a diagnosis.

One type of symptom of Autism that is explained by Erin during the show is known as restricted or repetitive behaviours or interests, with the common trait of having obsessive interests falling under that umbrella.  The character of Erin informs the audience that her main obsessive interest is music icon Taylor Swift, and to really reinforce the notion that Erin’s level of interest in the pop star is heightened compared to other people. The script of the show has Taylor Swift easter eggs scattered throughout, which is both a treat for any Swifties in the audience, and an ingenious way for playwright Westbrook to reiterate that it is such an obsessive interest of the character that it influences Erin’s whole way of communicating.

Imogen Dowding has directed this production and made great use of the space, with different sections of the stage being used to represent different parts of Erin’s life, as if the memories are literally being stored in varying sections of her mind palace – “baby Erin” memories kept over stage left, memories from university life and her boyfriend occupying stage right, family memories upstage, and various different doctors dotted around the space. The set design also adds to Dowding’s direction as it creates a sunny garden, with clothes representing fragments of Erin’s memories and people from her life, hung up on a washing line, giving Westbrook lots of objects to interact with onstage.

As a neurodivergent performer and writer herself, Beth Westbrook is dedicated to improving the representation of neurodivergence and disability within the arts, which is clear since the main focus of Sunny Girl is the journey to an Autism diagnosis.  But the representation and support of neurodivergent individuals isn’t limited to just within the narrative of the play – the production team fully committed to supporting the neurodivergent community by making the show as accessible as possible.  The performance has integrated creative captioning thanks to Grant Archer, lighting design by Jess Brigham that alternates between a warm well lit state and more colourful dynamic lighting states for Erin’s memories, with Westbrook doing an in-character introduction for a relaxed performance, preparing audience members for any lighting changes, and informing the audience that they have the freedom to walk in and out of the auditorium if they feel the need, and ticket holders also get offered a fidget toy upon their arrival which are free to borrow if it should make their viewing experience easier.  It is clear to see that the whole team truly care about the themes of the play and with the help of Access Consultant Ash Cox have done as much as they can to provide an inclusive and accessible environment for Westbrook as a performer and their entire audience.

A funny, joyous and insightful show, Sunny Girl gives representation to the sides of Autism not as frequently seen on stage and screen, and has been cleverly written to be able to truly connect with and entertain audiences.  This is a prime example of how wonderful and important fringe theatre can be when a production team wholeheartedly support the meaning behind a show.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway

Sunny Girl plays at the New Adelphi Theatre until 24 July and at Hope Street Theatre in Liverpool on 25 July, with further info here.