Here’s a star performance in a shoddy vehicle. The astonishing Mary Bridget Davies does not so much impersonate as summon Janis Joplin, the self-destructive blues-rock singer whose raw, gutsy performances sounded like exorcisms, and who drank, shagged and drugged herself to death aged 27 in 1970.
The big hits like Piece of My Heart, Cry Baby and Stay With Me are belted out with full-throated conviction, and she’s supported by a strong backing troupe and band. Born in 1978, Davies is almost two decades older now than Joplin ever got to be, but – wild-haired and hippyishly bedecked – gives a sense of how the singer’s ghost might manifest herself. She has Joplin’s jerky, combative dance with the microphone and her bittersweet leer down pat.
