Party Girl is a solo performance by Lucy Heffernan. It’s the story of Fairy Sprinkles a children’s party entertainer whose actual life is a juxtaposition to the one she creates for her enthusiastic birthday girls and boys. With a mix of Courtney Love inspired rock ’n’ roll Fairy Sprinkles tells us the story of the Saturday from hell. While there is plenty to unpack in just a day of back to back parties, it’s the parallel story of caring for a mother who is living with bipolar that we explore the impact of mental illness on family. Party Girl unpacks an adult child’s disappointment at picking up the pieces from another of her mother’s manic episodes. With Fairy Sprinkles job as a birthday party entertainer playing alongside the complexities of being the child parenting their mother, you see the dichotomy of a young girl forced to grow up quickly. The built up anger and resentment plays against a backdrop of glitter and unicorns which sees you thinking deeply about this story well after leaving the theatre. Their is empathy for the mother with lived experience but this is not her story and Lucy does well to respect that space. The script focusses squarely on the relationships that exist around mental illness and spares any judgment for the one living with it. Party Girl is a carer’s story told as a one woman show with humour, bogan grace and honesty.