Balloon Girl review – tech tycoon swirls with tragic teen parachutist in a crackling, time-travelling climate romp
Sherman theatre, Cardiff Hannah McPake’s high-wire drama pokes fun at tech bro machismo, reality TV and Musk-style Martian escapes – think A Christmas Carol in space This show takes local history as its starting point, that of a 19th-century balloonist’s assistant who performed a parachute stunt in the skies above Cardiff. It throws in a current-day tech billionaire, the space race, a time-travelling hot-air…
Key points
- Balloon Girl at Cardiff's Sherman theatre mixes 19th-century balloon history with a modern tech billionaire.
- It centres on Louisa Maud Evans, a 14-year-old who died in an 1896 Cardiff parachute stunt.
- Writer-director Hannah McPake's show uses time travel and satire on tech, reality TV and climate.
Balloon Girl, written and directed by Hannah McPake, is playing at the Sherman theatre in Cardiff. The show takes local history as its starting point: the story of a 19th-century balloonist's assistant who performed a parachute stunt above the city.
It also features a present-day tech billionaire, the space race, a time-travelling hot-air balloon and a lifesize talking seagull. The review describes the production as a high-wire drama that lifts off, crackling with humour and imagination.
The real story behind the show
Louisa Maud Evans was a real 14-year-old girl from Bristol enlisted to jump from a hot-air balloon during the Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition of 1896. She had little parachuting experience and died in the Bristol Channel after an unfavourable wind carried her out to sea.
In McPake's story, Louisa appears in different guises. The plot begins with Carol Gaudron, a celebrity tech billionaire played by Elin Phillips and a descendant of Auguste Eugene Gaudron, the balloonist played by Keiron Self who enlisted Louisa for the ill-fated stunt.
Let's get humanity off this planet and into the stars
— Carol
Satire and time travel
The opening scene is a reality quizshow in which a young woman from Bristol wins a televised rocket trip to Mars. Carol declares, "Let's get humanity off this planet and into the stars," and the review says she has the integrity of a tech visionary turned rank capitalist.
The story moves between satire on reality TV, AI and journalism and a time-travel journey for Carol with a young navigator, Louisa, played by Mari Fflur, and the talking seagull, played by Oliver Wood. The review compares it to A Christmas Carol in space, with the trio travelling to the past and future before Carol returns transformed.
Design and verdict
Hayley Grindle's set switches between small-scale puppetry and grand hot-air balloon imagery. The review says the show carries a serious message about climate and planetary resources, though it sometimes comes too thick and fast.
The review calls Balloon Girl one of McPake's best works for the theatre and an airborne triumph.
