If you were to walk past Only Fools on Sea Point Main Road any night this week, you would have heard reels of laughter coming from inside. Every night, the small, intimate space was packed with people watching Micaela Tucker’s sold-out, one-woman show, A Doll’s Life: confessions of a quarter life crisis. Written beautifully by Micaela herself and directed by Lara Toselli, the autobiographical play deals with relationships, STIs, anxiety, health scares, sexuality, misogyny, abortion, and the reality of being at a stage in life where all you are trying to do is figure out how to take your next step forward.
The play is set on a tiny stage with one armchair and a small table decorated with books. Micaela chronicles her move from Johannesburg to Cape Town, her subsequent health scare, and the reality of its aftermath. Her story bounces back and forth in time, allowing the audience small glimpses into her past, whether it be the story of how she travelled to Kenya to find herself (Eat Pray Love-style) or when she told her mother she was having sex for the first time. Tucker runs through a plethora of characters during the one-hour play, each one
as fleshed out and hysterical as the next, while somehow never being confusing. She has an uncanny ability to talk about awkward, stigmatized topics while keeping everyone watching engaged and comfortable, thanks to her hilarious comedic jabs scattered throughout.
As a 26-year-old woman watching this play, I can confirm how unbelievably relatable it was. The topics unpacked felt so universal yet, in my personal life, completely untouchable. I am so relieved to be living in a time when I can watch a show written and performed by a woman that touches on STDs (specifically HPV), the cringe-worthy terror of gynaecologist appointments, abortions, sex, and navigating relationships (both familial and romantic) in your twenties—and feel absolutely no judgment in the room. Particularly, no judgment from the woman on stage, bearing the not-so-perfect parts of herself to a room full of strangers.
If you're in Cape Town and missed the show, don’t worry! Stay tuned to Michaela's Instagram for updates on future performances. Johannesburg, you're in luck too! A Doll’s Life: Confessions of a Quarter-Life Crisis is heading your way from 19th–29th March 2025 at Theatre on the Square. I could not recommend that you go and see this show more. It is funny, nuanced, educational, silly, moving and all in all just plain fucking brilliant.
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