Cecelia, presented by Susannah Thompson, has been the most beautiful, soulful and engaging show I've have the pleasure of attending this FRINGE WORLD season.

Susannah's waltz down history lane is powerful and astounding. Her performance will open your eyes, your heart and your mind, making you question your own experiences and views. It's not the show to give you the answers, but a performance to politely challenge status quo of the past and present.

Susannah presents herself as a cheery, optimistic and pleasing personality - a product of her era and gender, subject to an invisible wall of rules, never spoken. She does this while painting her enthralled audience with tales spanning her childhood to more present times. She captures the whimsy of youth, the battles of making and maintaining friends, fashion, being the odd one out, bullying, teachers who put you down instead of inspiring you, sickness, death, and a lifetime of observation and experience of entrenched inequality. While I'm brought to tears, she is smiling and composed, regaling us matter-of-factly, yet politely, of grief amongst the good.

Intercepting the narrative, I find myself singing along to Amy Winehouse, Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart (to name a few), now with a greater appreciation of societal context during those eras. I’m truly blown away by Susannah’s voice, skilfully supported by Adam Keshwar’s masterful musical backing.

Susannah is brimming with the ability to vividly paint a picture in our minds of moments in time, tightly woven to a soundtrack, seemingly written just to express the trials, tribulations, and joys of her life. Without a doubt, Susannah has broken down that invisible wall of rules, and has boldly stated after all these years of systemic suppression “I will not be quiet” and now here we are, much better for it.

This show is a must see for literally anyone with an ear for music and story-telling. At times this show is an up-beat, jazzy sing-along, a heart-wrenching rendition of life, and yet at all times a history lesson (though it doesn’t feel this way), leaving you reflecting on life as it was, how it is now, and how it should be.