Rosie loves D.I.Y. She loves to fix things. She likes to bake
cakes. She likes to work with her hands when she can no longer trust her mind.
Broke, much like
Rowena Hutson’s earlier show Strong Female Character, feels very personal – even if she’s hiding behind Rosie
the Riveter overalls and Princess Leia’s hair-buns. The anger and the passion
could be acting but it feels blisteringly real. The details don’t feel written,
but lived. The shouting is fueled by pain and confusion and a genuine need to
name her illness and share it.
Ro cares about her audience, though. There are trigger
warnings at the start and a concern that her description of a panic attack
might bring on a panic attack. But there’s really been no panic attack quite
like this showstopping rock number with a large rubber brain and flying
tendrils of tinsel. Hutson, as one of the Fringe Wives’ Club, knows how to theatricalise
even the most painful of truths.
This is a smart show that could use a little tightening in
some areas – certain phrases recur to the point of feeling repetitive. And
while the connection between the patriarchy and Rosie’s anxieties seem clear, I
would have liked that fleshed out a little more – especially in the moments
when she projects her experience on the population at large.
If fifty percent of the audience will experience mental
illness in their lifetime and two million Australian’s each year suffer some
level of depression, Broke’s message
of bringing things out into the light is essential and I look forward to seeing
this show evolve to the next level.
All the pieces are there – hilarious, painful, feminist, confronting
and comforting – Rosie and Rowena just need to find a way to construct this
house a little better. But it's almost there.
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