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Cassie Workman: Aberdeen

 Three stars

 When Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994, the reverberations of the troubled Nirvana singer’s death made him a grunge martyr for a generation. One of these was Cassie Workman, whose epic poem in homage to her fallen idol sees her take an imagined trip with him back to his hometown. Born of the Australian writer and performer’s real life pilgrimage, Workman elevates Cobain to heroic status in a piece that borders on Greek tragedy in its ambitious intent.

 

Casting herself as both hopelessly devoted fan girl and a kind of doomed Jiminy Cricket, her pleas with Cobain to save himself are possessed with an empathy that shows just how much one person’s art can touch its audience.

 

As Workman prowls the small stage area, looking the audience in the eye as she relays couplet after couplet, this understandably intense hour builds to become an emotional and heartfelt homage.

 

Just the Tonic Nucleus until 28 Aug, 4pm.


The List, August 2022

 

ends 

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