It is amazing how Lauren-Nicole Mayes and Izzy Parriss Productions have created one of the best shows at Edinburgh Fringe using only two items: a stage block and a digestive biscuit. Dear Little Loz is a true example of how a one-woman show at Fringe should be executed.
Dear Little Loz is a semi-autobiographical play starring Lauren Nicole Mayes. It is a perfectly balanced performance of mixed prose and freeform poetry set in Blackpool about a young woman (Loz) whose complex relationship with her father developed from childhood is now affecting her adult romantic relationships.
Using flawless transitions to convey the strong connection between girlhood and womanhood, Dear Little Loz showcases how our father’s character can influence affects women’s perception of men in their teenage years and adulthood in their lives. We the audience are transported across time as one minute we watch an innocent bouncing Loz eager to please her father by winning the Year 8 egg and spoon race at sports day and the next we see her trying to make the best out of her boring date, Dave.
This is a play in which the funniest scenes will slowly but surely bring you to tears. I was both laughing and crying watching Dear Little Loz. Not only for the sad scenes dedicated to portraying Loz’s perception of her father change throughout the play. But also because of the innocence of girlhood where Groovy Girl bedsheets, Kylie Minogue and MSN rule which served as an ode to the early 2000s.
We all crave a connection to our fathers, who more often than not have played a massive role in our childhood. In Loz’s case, her father was instrumental in making the world seem like it belonged to her, that she was the star of her own show. Loz’s father told her that “a boy who likes you will never leave you”. This statement is then repeated like it’s a fundamental saying that Loz lives by. Throughout the play, we see how this phrase that was once attached to romantic relationships becomes a saying of hope, a sort of saving grace for Loz and her father’s relationship. But also haunting her, as the saying keeps her father’s presence (which she felt a lack of in her childhood) alongside her as an adult.
Overall Dear Little Loz is a must-see show at this year’s Fringe, the communication between Lauren Nicole-Mayes and her audience is impeccable. I left feeling fulfilled and reflective of my own childhood and how our attachments and relationships with our fathers have and can shape our perceptions of men in our adulthood.
Get your tickets ASAP and go see Dear Little Loz at Surgeons Hall from 5th-27th August (excluding 14th) at 12 pm.
Images accredited to Izzy Parris Productions, provided to The Student as press material.