Sharon Mahoney wears her heart on her sleeve in The Lion, the Bitch and the Wardrobe.

Pulsing erratically, the exposed organ gets a little messy. It’s also beautiful. Mahoney’s solo show is a mix of standup, street performance, and confessional—on the subject of mental health.

Last year, the artist was in the Royal Jubilee Hospital’s emergency room suffering a panic attack so severe she thought she was dying. Her anxiety was about being a single, childless, nonhome-owning “failure” at 40.

Mahoney’s juggling and comedic skills are okay, but the real juice is in her feminism—in an extended defence of Marilyn Monroe, for instance—and in her willingness to be both vulnerable and compassionate.