The Stage

I’ll Show You Mine

Published Monday 15 August 2011 at 09:47 by Catherine Usher

Caroline Horton does a really convincing impression of a prepubescent child in this cheerful ode to growing up, family life and the trials of the transition to adulthood.

Caroline Horton in I'll Show You Mine at the Lion and Unicorn, London Photo: Giant Olive Theatre Company

Her movement, expression and enthusiasm are spot on - it’s the characters surrounding our heroine Rachel that aren’t so sympathetic. It is strange that a tale supposed to have such wide appeal should focus on such a specifically well to do family.

As Horton recreates all the characters in Rachel’s life, her father sounds like an officer in a Second World War film while her mum is reminiscent of a mother in an Enid Blyton novel. All very well if a little clich√©d, but then there is also an Irish nanny recreated for our entertainment and the portrayal of this character borders on the offensive. She is idiotic, easily manipulated and incredibly stupid - which seems to be explained by the fact she likes Baywatch. It’s a whole portion of the play that adds nothing to the overall story - except perhaps to offend Irish people, nannies and possibly David Hasselhoff.

But despite the inconsistent material, in Horton’s hands Rachel is an appealing character and she maintains the audience’s interest in her childish exploits for a whole hour. Hideous Irish stereotyping aside, time spent with Rachel is quite an adventure and one which reminds the audience of the inequality, unpredictability and enjoyment of being young.