Dear Michelle Kwan, at SpaceTriplex
Four pre-teen figure skaters in neon leggings and rhinestone-bedazzled jackets stretch in unison as the audience files in. Then they drop to their knees and begin what can only be described as a séance: a fervent prayer to Michelle Kwan, their patron saint, their god. It's an opening that tells you exactly what kind of show this is going to be, and Dear Michelle Kwan largely delivers.
The girls are preparing for a big recital under the watchful eye of their coach, portrayed excellently by Jasmyn Donya Molaei, a woman of almost pantomime villainy who is largely reminiscent of Miss Trunchbull. She fat-shames her charges, forces one to watch footage of a turkey being butchered, pits the children against one another, and locks them in a cupboard when they misbehave. She also, naturally, has an evil laugh.
The real substance of the show belongs to the girls. Each of the four is drawn with genuine care - distinct personalities, hopes, and fears that deepen steadily across the run time, so that by the end they feel less like archetypes of the child athlete and more like people you've come to know. Their worship of Michelle Kwan remains present throughout the show, lending a ritualistic, almost cultish undercurrent to what might otherwise read as ordinary pre-teen ambition. When a blizzard traps them in the ice rink overnight, the piece shifts gear entirely, and this is where it excels: a claustrophobic, sharply observed portrait of the inner lives of young girls, and of the violence, psychological and otherwise, they are capable of when the adults finally leave the room.
The staging deserves credit too. The thrust configuration is used intelligently, pulling the audience into the rink with the girls, and the production is physically impressive throughout. The cast move with a precision and control that strongly suggests real training in figure skating or ballet, and it lends the recital sequences an authenticity that a less impressive cast couldn't fake.
Dear Michelle Kwan is a strange, sharp, surprisingly dark hour that understands something true about girlhood, ambition, and the pressures faced by young athletes. Lace up.
Dear Michelle Kwan plays at the SpaceTriplex at 15:05 until Saturday 29 August (not 23rd).
★★★★
Written by Ellora for Theatre and Tonic, August 2026.
