This one-woman play focuses on the life of one of the most influential and iconic singers in rock history, Janis Joplin. A woman who carved her name into the music hall of fame as a defiant and strong female armed with her unique and strangely beautiful blues voice, despite always being in a constant battle against her demons, the worst being alcohol and heroin.
The play is set in Joplin’s bedroom and slowly reveals itself to be a complex tale, revealing the glorious highs of being on the party scene and the devastating lows that come with it, all the time hinting at secret heartbreaks that have shaped her into the icon she will live on forever as.
Nicola Haydn does a stellar job, nailing her unique voice and capturing perfectly the dual personalities of Joplin, the playful rebel and the insecure child and she does so with a wonderful and inspiring energy, she is the anchor of the show that keeps the audience unable to take their eyes away from her and it is her alone that drags the performance through to the final section as at times the writing lags and fails to deliver the emotional punch you are expecting.
A shame as there is much to admire here, Haydn weaves a quietly simmering emotional narrative that never rings anything but true and is worth the ticket price alone to watch her award winning performance.
Great for both old and new fans of Joplin, this is a tender story, beautifully acted and written but is hampered by an unfocused narrative that outstays its welcome in the final moments.
3/5 
Martin Miller
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