“I just wanna let them know that they didn’t break me”
– Andie (Molly Ringwald), Pretty in Pink
When we
meet grandma Tup, daughter Alison and grandchild Billie, they are almost at
breaking point. Tup is suffering from FTD (frontotemporal dementia) and she’s
combative, barely verbal and is only occasionally calmed down by wine gummies
or a straw she thinks is a cigarette. Tokens of a past she doesn’t remember
that trigger some deep-down understanding.
Tup’s house
is a mess; years of hoarding for Alison and Billie to deal with. And there are
stacks and stacks of Sacred Heart choir books dotted around. In the bathroom.
Under the sofa. Reminders of a long-ago ritual of community connection and
friendship. But in the years since she got ill, the local church circle have
slowly abandoned Tup and Alison’s attempts to reunite the community chorists at
the local hall amounts to almost nothing.
The Hall digs into the struggle of family-as-carers
in the late-stage of someone’s life, where you must look after them, while
already grieving what you and they have lost. The story is not so complicated,
but it’s the details that get under our skin.
Billie, for
example, is trans and is using they/them pronouns. Tup, because of the FTD,
misgenders Billie multiple times, which leads to a panic attack. They
understand the reality of the situation, but as a fifteen-year-old just finding
a way to relate to themselves, it remains profoundly hurtful. Emmanuelle
Mattana’s performance is energetic throughout – giving us both youthful joy and
teenage pain.
Natasha Herbert's portrayal of Tup is complicated and layered. In moments of delusion, Tup is shedding
clothes, but Herbert’s movements suggests a character trying to slough off her
skin. The struggle in her head is made manifest in a body that squirms and lashes
out.
Brooke Lee’s
Alison is stuck in the middle, tending to her mother and child and trying to
forge a path ahead. Sometimes though, what’s best for Billie cannot be
reconciled with what is best for her mum. Lee’s portrayal of Alison is a compelling
combination of warmth and freneticism.
Director
Kitan Petkovski caps off an amazing year (The Inheritance, Things I Know to Be True, Sugar) by gently guiding this three-hander through the ins-and-outs of
their struggles in the round at fortyfive downstairs. Actor-singers sit in the
front row of the audience, on a couch, a pew, some metal chairs, playing other
characters (a therapist, a priest, a flight attendant, etc), occasionally bursting
into lush choral arrangements of original songs from Ro Bright and Pat Irwin.
The shape
of show is quite clear early on – with the singers in the audience, we know Alison
wants to connect with Tup again through mass song – but in execution, it
becomes profoundly moving.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
The Hall is playing at Fortyfive Downstairs until December 1
Photos: James Reiser
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