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The man in the row behind kept sniffling. Allergies, he offhandedly mentioned to his companion, evoking cooing sympathies. A likely story, mate. Every teary-eyed soul in the Samuel Beckett Theatre knew why his disrupting sniffles continued to invade the room, and allergies had none to do with it. Sheesh, Men.

Men, indeed, were causing all sorts of problems that night in Corn Exchange Theatre Company’s brilliant adaptation of Eimer McBride’s debut novel. With an absolute beaut of a performance by Aoife Duffin, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing is feminist to the core. With a disabled older brother as the only positively-portrayed male, the plot dives into the many negative circumstances various men caused either purposefully or indirectly in her life. Out of these events come the play’s overwhelming theme of loss — the loss of control, of loved ones, of innocence and, ultimately, of life itself.

Nonetheless, while the show’s heavy issues are as central to the plot as they are hugely affecting, they in no way outshine the mesmerizing feat that is Duffin’s stunning one-woman performance. How she has the capacity to wholly transform herself is beyond understanding; clearly never quite the same performance twice, she effortlessly slips through various characters via mannerism and intonation, never straying too close into the snares of character acting. Undoubtedly her powerful performance is in fact made all the more so through its very subtlety — the insignificant nuances of each role speaking louder than any costumes or props could. In this day of three-minute takes at post-production piecemealing, even merely in terms of sheer duration, Duffin must be applauded with awe in her ability to not only memorize but breathe vivid life into a 90 minute monologue.

A thought-provoking, gut-wrenching portrayal of the bleak human condition, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing will stick in the minds of its viewers long after they’ve left the theatre. If that’s not alluring enough, no one should miss the chance to witness first-hand this sublime performance — what even the most heralded and famed of actors would find a huge challenge in undertaking, this young actress simply slices like butter, and it is a pleasure to watch her do so.

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing runs until  5 October at the Samuel Beckett Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.