What does your resume say about you? That you’re hard working, dedicated, customer-oriented, have a bubbly personality, or works well with others? But what about what’s happened at those previous jobs? How have they shaped who you are today? Rosamund Small takes us on that journey, through her past careers and their adventures, in her new play Performance Review. Performed in a cozy coffee shop, Performance Review, directed by Mitchell Cushman, is the kind of excellent experience I’ve come to expect from Outside the March.

Morning Parade Coffee Bar is the perfect setting for Performance Review, this quaint coffee shop in a funky area of the city creates an intimate and welcoming atmosphere from the beginning. The programs are formatted like menus, with the title on the front in a fancy font and the essential information inside. The back of the program shows depictions of the only imported set piece: a set of 7 items each under their own tall glass dome, which are lit from underneath. Every item represents a different story, and therefore a different job, which has impacted Small’s life. These physical representations of the important moments in her life create a little museum of their own, not unlike the ones she visits in her story.

Small’s musings about the objects she sees in the vast museums of London, England nearly had me in tears; merely one example of the excellent script Small has penned. She takes us through the highs and lows of her life with enthusiasm and, at times, great trepidation. Her tales range from the exhilarating to the slightly suspicious, career highlights to truly traumatic events. With every new story and job, she updates her resume, stating her age and the skills she feels she now has. She starts out by working in a Second Cup when she’s 18 and straight out of high school, to making an art Collective with some friends who try to get too “friendly” to writers rooms on TV shows, and more. One constant being that despite her genuine desire for connection and to be a part of something, she was taken advantage of in one way or another. This hit very close to my heart, and from the reactions around the room, it seems to for many others as well.

Couched within this narrative are very important discussions of mental health, particularly when it comes to anxiety and intrusive thoughts: you know the ones, the “what if I swallowed this marble?” ones. Small discusses feeling as if when she wasn’t working, she wasn’t sure what to do with herself, and that’s when those intrusive thoughts make themselves even more appealing. Though she never acts on them, as most of us don’t when those thoughts arise, to even be including these intrusive thoughts within a performance context is affirming and important.

Rosamund Small is an engaging and charismatic performer, easily holding the audience from the moment she starts collecting up our cups and plates at the top of the show. Navigating such a tight room must be interesting: she weaves amongst the chairs and tables several times throughout the show, and yet never seems to mind having to maneuver around someone’s chair. Constantly able to be seen thanks to some tall chairs, a step ladder, and some milk crates at the front of the stage, Small makes use of every inch of the cafe for her performance. She makes frequent eye contact with audience members as well, giving us all that “whoosh” feeling she describes in her show: she’s talking to us and can see us and we, in turn, get to see her.

I love the title: Performance Review. Usually this is given by a boss to their employees, yet what we experience with this show is just the opposite. We get Small’s perspective on the people and places she’s worked for in her life, and not everyone is getting a good report (deservedly so). By not shying away from the realities of her professions and exposing the constant unsaid expectations placed on young women or femme presenting people, Small opens up a dialogue about the (mis)treatment many people experience every day. Yet she does so with a smile, a caramel latte, and the warmth she’s had from her days at Second Cup.

Performance Review runs at Morning Parade Coffee Bar (on Dundas) until March 30. Tickets are extremely limited so get them right away at: https://outsidethemarch.ca/the-experiences/performance-review/

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Cover Photo: Rosamund Small. Photo by Dahlia Katz

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Thank you to my Patrons:

N. Bushnik, S. Fisher, B. Kinnon, D. Moyes

And to my supporters who’ve bought me a coffee:

Angelica and Paul, Anonymous, Adrianna, and Caitlin

Would you like to become a Patron? Check out my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/AViewfromtheBox

Or, you can buy me a coffee at: buymeacoffee.com/aviewfromthebox