The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp is a mom-centred stand-up set that unpacks the trauma of being raised by a bi-polar parent with a balance of darkness and sharp humour.
Krystal turns trauma into catharsis in her mom-centred stand up
In talking of her working-class upbringing, Evans is quick to admit that the name Krystal has its stereotypes. One American audience member helpfully describes the name as having ‘trailer park trash’ connotations, an assertion which Evans doesn’t try to deny.
Having set the tone for the show, Evans keys us in on her childhood growing up in the US, charting movements from town to town to outrun her mother’s destructive behaviour. Often, however, the drama had a habit of catching up with them and the scars remain prominent.
As the show’s subject matter gets weightier, Evans maintains deadpan delivery, a character trait she ascribes to her difficult upbringing. But Evans’ unsmiling expression also works well to build in a level of unpredictability, setting us up for a number of unforeseen laughs and gut punches.
While others remark on the bravery of addressing such traumatic subject matter, for Evans it seems a sort of catharsis, and she deems it necessary, as the only one who can tell this particular story. Rather than follow in her mother’s footsteps, Evans would rather share her shortcomings without malice or bitterness and, in the process, heal as a person.
A show that is as much for her audience as it is for herself to process the past, we are grateful to be a part of it. In charting her rollercoaster journey into adulthood and motherhood herself, we gain insight into what makes Evans so self-aware and cynical, loving her all the more for it.