★★★★
A mile-a-minute autobiography performed with her entire heart, Nicole Nadler deftly tells us more about her life both pre and post ‘Why am I like this’ (her first Edfringe hit!) in the language of girlhood, 2000s pop hits, and her own ADHD brain.
The thesis of Nicole’s second show is simple; why, after all her dreams came true with the public reception of ‘Why am I Like This?’ is Nicole still…well, like this?
Her answer, told over 45mins of flashbacks to her undiagnosed younger years and dramatised conversations with her therapist, explores some of the eternal truths about living with neurodiversity; that we will always be ‘like this’ because it is exactly who we are, and that 30 years of being constantly belittled and misunderstood by the people around us, without having the right words to express whywe’re struggling, will leave trauma that is hard to heal from.
Nicole is honest, self-aware and captivating throughout this deeply intelligent piece. Whether she is dancing in her childhood room to Avril Lavigne or getting fired from her job because of her (then undiagnosed) ADHD, every story she tells has a purpose, to show us how her symptoms taught her to hate herself, how 30 years in the rigid structures of the neurotypical world pushed her down, and how the people she valued and respected were making her feel like a failure time and time again.
The truth, as Nicole tells us at the end of the show, is that awareness of her ADHD is not an insta-fix for 30 years of hating herself and not knowing that there is a genuine reason why she’s ‘like this’. She’s still healing. And I really do hope she writes another show for next year, to keep us all updated with how she’s getting on.
Why am I (Still) Like this? is on at The Space – Surgeon’s Hall until 24th August
