Dear Diary

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https://merrigong.com.au/shows/dear-diary-2024/

Date Reviewed: 09/05/2024

'Dear Diary’, written by Kay Proudlove and directed by Leland Kean, opened last night at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. The one-woman show, starring Proudlove, is a balanced mix of nostalgia, self-deprecation, and musical comedy.

The show’s premise arose from a fateful day in Kay’s life when she was summoned to her parent’s house to clean out her childhood bedroom. The layout of the stage represented said bedroom, which felt both homey and oddly clinical, as she slowly removed the sense of comfort that comes from a safe space like a bedroom as the story progressed. Certain moments were punctuated with clothes being removed from the racks and piled up downstage, symbolising moving on and growing up.

The casual tone and delivery of the interwoven collection of stories made the performance feel like old friends catching up over coffee or a bottle of Moscato. The fourth wall was delicately danced around, with Proudlove referring to her writing process for the show and providing sidenotes and commentary on her memories and diary entries.

Kay’s generational humour and songs crafted from extracts of her teenage self’s diary had the audience in stitches. The stories of her high school crushes on both celebrities and boys she went to school with were hilarious and authentically awkward.

The selective use of a screen to show images and blow-up pages from her diary assisted in comedic timing and context and authenticating the words being read from the diary. It was wonderful to see her growth as a musician and a songwriter, as she has moved past her one verse and one chorus songs with a catalogue of beautiful, powerful, and reflective songs, as well as the majority of songs in ‘Dear Diary’ that are upbeat and lyrically diarised.

Growing up as a theatre kid and having big dreams like fame and going on a world tour are formative in the way young artists identify and shape their perspective on themselves and their environment. Her moment of realisation of her replaceability within her musical space struck a chord with me, who also put together performances and had big dreams of fame as a pre-teen. A sad part of growing up is looking back at all the plans your younger self had made, often with absolutely no understanding of the world and the inner workings of adulthood. Kay captured this beautifully with such raw emotion and simplicity.

If you grew up in the Illawarra and are looking for a healthy dose of nostalgia, this is the show for you. Grab yourself a ticket on the Merrigong Theatre Company website. ‘Dear Diary’ runs until Saturday, 11 May, at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre before continuing her national tour in Tasmania.