Make sure that you go see Terrible Fish at Halifax Fringe. I loved this show so much. Caitlin Murphy is reflecting on aging specifically as a woman, specifically as a straight single woman who is going through menopause just as her two sons are on the cusp of puberty.
Caitlin Murphy’s sense of humour is so wry, unexpected, and intelligent. She reminds me a lot of stand up comedian Tig Notaro both in her dry delivery and also in her ability to lead the audience in one direction, and then to cleverly switch to something surprising. The show incorporates poetry, comedy, storytelling, and music- Murphy plays both the keyboard and the banjo as she contends with all the ways that women over forty become more and more invisible in the world as they age. The title of the show comes from a Sylvia Plath poem, where the fish is the reflection in the mirror that is terrifying when the young lady suddenly morphs into the old crone, and she has, as far as our culture is usually concerned, completely dried up.
Are there any advantages to this experience, asks Murphy? Is this just something all woman are forced to contend with as they transition into their clunky jewelry and funky glasses era, or is the patriarchal experience so entrenched in our society and all of us that there is nothing we can do to make the world more fair- do we simply have to make the best of it? Murphy doesn’t offer us the magic answer, but she has certainly found a way to put this experience centre stage, to refuse to be pushed off the stage in lieu of someone younger and less experienced, and in standing there alone on stage, with everyone’s eyes politely on her, she’s not letting the Fringe nor the Canadian Theatre ignore her, and we in the audience are all the better for seeing her for the all of the talented, and knowledgable, and funny and resilient woman that she is.
TWIIS Fringe Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Terrible Fish directed by Bryan Doubt plays at DanSpace (1800 Argyle Street, Halifax) at the following times: September 12th at 9:30pm, and September 13th at 3:30pm. It will also play in St. John’s, Newfound and Labrador on September 16th and 17th, 2026.
