Seventeen-year-old Michelle packs up the last of her childhood in preparation for a new life of rock ’n’ roll adventure in San Francisco. As the sun sets outside her childhood home, Michelle is visited by Sue, her best friend – just fourteen years old and freshly returned from her first gig as a child actor in London. The force of their reunion is immediate and electric, though it is clear they have headed down very different – and equally dangerous – paths, both paved by the promises and pitfalls of a changing world. One girl is drawn to the future. The other, shaped by it.
Inspired by the real-life friendship between Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas and Sue Lyon, star of Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita, ‘Strange Young Girls’ is a haunting, tender, and provocative exploration of girlhood, fame, and identity at the edge of transformation.
Tobi King Bakare and this theatre deserve a shout-out for such a young, diverse audience. There is so much talk about audiences being full of over 60s and why, why can’t theatres get the crowds in to reflect society in general? Well, I’m happy to say that on a rainy Thursday evening, the theatre was completely full.
Caiti Grove on Before I Go in CPT's Spring 2023 season London Theatre Reviews
