Searching for a safe space can take considerable resources to find and create. And what if you find a euphoric place to only discover you didn’t need it all along? And that despite your self-induced deficiencies, you had the resilience and insight to create a better version of yourself without the need to manufacture another version of yourself. From Small Dog Productions we have Between the fractures. It is a well-executed allegory of the monarch butterfly metamorphosing from a delicate caterpillar to a chrysalis and then finally onto a magnificent butterfly. The opening projects the audience into the mental struggle Sam endures. Life is unbalanced and unforgiving, and she is unhinged. Her cognitive dissonance surfaces as a paralysis of life's traumas while simultaneously believing nothing is amiss. To cope Sam manufactures a second entity called Mas. Mas manifests as an internal dialogue that Sam believes is a unique identity from herself. Mas is a wholesome hero, young and beautiful but turns malevolent in nature. Mas first creates a safe space in which Sam can thrive and be protected from the real rigours of life. However, there is a dark side that boils to the surface each time Sam struggles to question Mas’s existence. Mas becomes quite aggressive and locks Sam away in her own mind, creating a widening chasm between reality and the total collapse of the mind. It's only when Sam digs deep into her soul that she begins to strike out. Mas meanwhile attempts to take Sam to a place where Sam will become paralysed by trauma, therefore forever needing Mas. The two identities become diametrically opposed and after Sam emerges from the abyss of trauma she is sharply jogged into questioning if Mas’s abilities and intentions are honorable and pure. After a heated exchange, Sam realises Mas is the source of her problems – not the saviour she had first manufactured. We then see Sam struggle in the chrysalis of her mind and is violently reformed only to emerge and become the famed Monarch butterfly. Free to fly to wherever she wants to go. A superb depiction of the internal struggles we all go through in life. Well executed allegory, fine acting, and a great story.