In Donna Hoke’s “Mabel Talks,” the silent film star Mabel Normand addresses the producers and directors who shaped and stymied her career. While this engrossing one-woman show introduces audiences to a brilliant comedian who has been forgotten, in Hoke’s deft treatment, the play delivers more than a biography. By letting Mabel speak for herself, Hoke depicts Normand as a strong-willed artist, at turns funny, flirtatious, and combative, and so richly imagined, she charms us with the charisma that made her one of the first film celebrities of the 20th century. A gem for actors. Highly recommended.

Having been a film studies minor in undergrad, I wish Mabel Normand's name rang a bell before reading Hoke's script, because Hoke's script makes it clear, Normand she deserves it. Hoke takes us on an in depth journey into the Female Chaplin's life and career in this one-person show. Capturing her personality, her relationships and history with a deviceful use of props, Hoke pays excellent tribute to this cinema great.

A fully entertaining and loving portrait of silent film star Mabel Norman, MABEL TALKS is both biography and quiet commentary on misogyny’s power to limit, even destroy, exceptional talent. More so, Hoke accomplishes this with great humor and without a moment of exposition or a hint of proselytizing. A master class in how to craft a fully engaging solo show, Hoke makes brilliant work of stagecraft - blocking and set pieces - to give us an easily producible one-woman show that any actor would love to get her hands on.