The clue is in the socks. We’re faced by three girls, identical in their yellow coats, red bobble hats and long hair. Only the stripes beneath their denim shorts distinguish one from the other. Played sonorously by Betty Valencia, Kim Allan and Rehanna MacDonald, they are triplets, used to being considered a unit. They scratch their faces at exactly the same time and face the world together. It’s why Finegan Kruckemeyer’s modern-day fable for the over-sevens begins “thrice upon a time”.
Seen around the world since its debut in 2011, and now staged in a playful production by Jemima Levick for Stellar Quines, This Girl Laughs … is an allegory about growing into your own skin. The three sisters might look the same, but slowly, through fairytale adventures, unlikely encounters and the odd wrong turn, they come to know themselves better. As they do so, Jean Chan’s homely costume designs give each a distinct appearance. By the end of their 20-year journey to maturity, you’d have no reason to confuse them.
Equally, they could be three facets of the same personality. One is thoughtful and altruistic. One sweet-toothed and gung-ho. The third, outdoorsy and adventurous. Having been neglected by their stepmother and abandoned by their father, in a plot somewhere between Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, each responds to her unexpected independence in her own way. One stays at home, one co-opts an old lady for an underwater voyage and one becomes a Viking slayer. They make the world more colourful as they go, until, with self-realisation, they are ready to reunite as equals. It makes for a warming conclusion to an eccentric tale.
