The term ‘Hot Girl Summer’ is all the rage nowadays, but somehow I knew that what was in store from Isla Fairfield’s one woman show would somehow stand out from the crowd.
It’s clear from the off that Fairfield is no stranger to the stage or the spotlight. She bounces around the stage effortlessly for 45 minutes while telling a very cohesive story and demanding audience attention.
Her delivery is clear and projected right to the back of the decent sized space. Fairfield brings Tilly to life beautifully; a twenty-something woman who blabbed a corporate job in the big smoke and fills her free time with hinge dates with snobby marketing boys, all while trying to come to terms with the recent passing of her mother.
The range on display from Fairfield is stunning. She flicks between upbeat, unbridled positivity to genuine sorrow like a light switch. She demonstrates a great range of emotions and hits you with out-of-the-blue gut punches of heartbreak with ease.
She uses the full space to her advantage, utilising fantastic physicality and energetic movement that keep the pace and the energy of the piece up throughout, while also creating some truly laugh-out-loud moments.
With the help of associate director Sarah Fox, the piece never falls into cringe territory, even though that could be easily done here. Managing to always feel based in something real makes the moments of true vulnerability hit home harder. Hot Girl Summer is full of very relatable humour, Scottish pride in a setting completely lacking any, and hilarious inclusions like Scottish National footballer names and positions that show a truly fun and believable side to Tilly, making her feel fully fledged as she’s clearly based on parts of Fairfield. The parts she puts on display for the audience here are attention grabbing and thrilling. Eleni Papaioannou helps out lots with interesting lighting and getting involved in some fourth-wall-breaking fun.
Overall, Fairfield’s personality shines through in her script that is concise and well written. Tilly is unafraid to be who and what she is, and is learning to love that about herself. This trait is something incredibly endearing and is a message the audience takes with them when they leave.
Theatre Scotland 
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