Half spoken-word poetry, half storytelling confessional, Cat Hepburn: #GIRLHOOD is a fast-paced and vibrant examination of female coming-of-age. Beginning with Hepburn's childhood – in which her older brothers dismiss her love of the Spice Girls in favour of 'real' music like Green Day – through to teenage firsts and her mid-twenties experience of a toxic relationship, this one-woman show speaks to collective womanhood, shedding a warm, funny, and savagely honest light on the difficulties of forging an identity in an insidiously hostile world.

Hepburn is a consummate performer, assertively commanding the small stage as the simple yet witty lyrics trip off her tongue; yet the occasional wry smile breaks the fourth wall, fostering a deep sense of intimacy as she confides in the audience the darker moments of her life. There is nothing that hasn't been heard dozens of times before: on the one hand, this works to emphasise the typical yet violent rites of passage that have come to define women's coming-of-age, yet on the other, it signals a certain lack of innovation that prevents #GIRLHOOD from really hitting its stride. As a piece of theatre, Hepburn is not reinventing any paradigms, yet as a deeply personal account of a girl's coming-of-age, her work is incredibly valuable.

Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, run ended.