Amanda: The Night Before Me at Bridge House Theatre Review
Divina de Campo as Amanda. Photo: Andreas Hofmarcher
In this solo show, with an original score by Belgian artist Rory Six and English lyrics from Charles Hart, we meet Amanda in the hours before her gender affirming surgery. In a musical monologue she tells us her story, including her dreams, lies, loves and about her hard-won freedom. The hugely popular and versatile Divina de Campo plays fourteen characters to tell Amanda’s story – family, friends, lovers and her own inner voices.
Amanda’s story is based on the true and deeply personal stories that Rory shared with his trans friend, Sophie Giller. Initially performed in German, it has lost nothing in translation, Hart’s lyrics feel very natural and the story is very accessible and relatable on many levels – covering the highs and lows of growing up that so many of us have been through, hitting those same milestones but with the extra layer for Amanda as she finds her true identity.
The Bridge House Theatre offers a very intimate performance space. It’s dominated by Amanda’s bed – looking very much like a diva’s boudoir, backed by white patterned panels that light up to reflect her various moods – it is, as Divina tells us at the start, actually her bed in the clinic where she’ll spend the night before her surgery. And it is, as we come to realise, representing the chrysalis/cocoon from which she will ultimately emerge as the woman she has always been. Throughout the performance, she’ll sit or lie on this “bed”, use it as the therapist’s office or a stage upon which she’ll deliver the powerful climax of a musical number. This design from Timo Verse with lighting by Stephanie Affleck, is very effective and visually stunning.
Writer Rory Six also directs alongside Jerôme Knols. The script is full of humour – from early speculation on the correct way to pronounce feng shui (Feng schwee? Feng shooey?!) to giving us the agonies and ecstasies of a teen crush – and moves very smoothly through the life experiences that define Amanda as she is in the present. There are no props secreted around the set and no costume changes, the different characters and scenarios are immediately clear through swiftly mimed actions and a change of tone/pitch and posture. The strong direction ensures the humour feels appropriate alongside the more serious content, it isn’t shoe-horned in but part of Amanda’s personality, making her feel well-rounded.
This is not a musical in the traditional sense – you won’t leave the theatre humming a showstopping anthem – but the swift transitions from dialogue to song are perfectly timed and give extra light and shade to the performance that wouldn’t be achieved as easily through a series of spoken monologues. The lack of a “showstopper” also adds to the realism of the piece, it feels like a natural testimony rather than a theatrical performance. Of course it is a treat for the audience that we have Divina de Campo delivering these musical monologues. With a powerful musical theatre voice that would easily fill London’s biggest theatres, it could all be a little overwhelming in such a small space. But the sound balance and delivery is perfectly pitched – the big notes are stunning and impressive without ever feeling too much.
This is a powerful piece of writing, but the performance from De Campo is simply exceptional. From the start, when she sets the scene with light-hearted delivery and a sharp wit, it’s immediately clear in this delivery that if you scratch the surface, there is a lot of pain and life-long suffering to unpick. She switches effortlessly between Amanda and the father who can’t and won’t understand her, a teenage girl (with a ridiculous snort of a laugh!), the dry therapist and – heartbreakingly – the mother she’s losing to dementia. It’s an incredibly emotional performance without ever becoming overly maudlin. Her Amanda is a strong woman who doesn’t want our sympathy, just our acceptance. It’s an absolute masterclass in performance and honestly cannot be praised enough.
Amanda: The Night Before Me (initially I assumed this was just a reference to us joining Amanda in the sleepless hours before her surgery when, of course, it’s also the night before she becomes herself, becomes ME – clever!) is a powerful and vital piece of theatre, giving us a very raw and human portrayal of a trans woman’s lived experience in a society that urgently needs to watch and take note. With certain loud voices seeking to remove trans visibility, it’s a timely reminder that trans lives are human lives. Staged in such an intimate space, it was an absolute privilege to watch such a phenomenal performance that was both heartbreaking and life affirming. It will stay with me for a very long time.
Amanda: The Night Before Me is at the Bridge House Theatre until Saturday 10th October 2026.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Written by Penny for Theatre and Tonic, September 2026.