Florence is a one-woman play starring Honor Santa Barnes. If you have wanted to become someone else then look no further. Florence is the ultimate “fake it until you make it” role model or is she?
The performance follows the life of the disillusioned art graduate who desperately wants to work in the art world. Rejected time and again she finds herself in a situation that’s too good not to manipulate.
On a night out drowning her sorrows, she jokingly passes the comment about “Daddy” cutting her off financially in the toilet to a complete stranger. Isabella (the stranger) latches onto this heartbreaking situation and fully understnds what that means.
The pair start chatting and Isabella offers Florence her spare room. A new identity for Florence begins although we discover as the play progresses that nothing happens by accident and this new life is a well-planned “con” that is only likely to have a short(ish) life span.
Life in the art world isn’t exactly what Florence expected. Obscene amounts of money exchange hands for art and forgeries take place. Nothing more than expected when so many rich buy into the facades presented to them.
However, as the lies begin to unravel and Isabella finds new toys to play with. Florence has to make another life-changing decision. It’s time to go home.
Santa Barnes gives an incredible performance throughout. Switching between accents and characters with ease, making the storyline easy to follow. The audience was just waiting for the mask to slip and everything to disappear…or be reinvented.
Florence is well worth catching at the Fringe or beyond. I don’t think this play has outlived its performance shelf life just yet and deserves to be seen by more audiences.
For more information about Florence please use the link below.
Five Stars.
Theatre, Art and Film Reviews 
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