90 minutes with the ex
Lynn Freeman27/01/2010 12:00:00 p.m.
Ninety, directed by Susan Wilson, Circa Two, reviewed by Lynn Freeman
THE death of a child is every parent’s nightmare and that makes it potentially powerful theatre.
It’s well covered territory, including Carl Nixon’s The Raft which was seen in Wellington just last year. Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith takes a different tack to Nixon – here the parents have separated, as often happens, and one of them has buried their grief rather than dealing with it.
The cast of two has a monumental task. They hold the stage for 90 minutes, and must carry us with them back in time in between sparring in the present. Murray-Smith has Isabel (Michele Amas) summon her ex – William (Andrew Foster) – to her art studio for a 90 minute conversation, before his wedding to a much younger woman. She’s up front, she misses him and questions his motives for taking a trophy wife. He’s up front, he doesn’t love Isabel any more, he’s intoxicated with the fame he’s found as an actor.
So what are her motives? Not what we may think. Gradually, she tries to strip away the protective layers of pretence.
It’s that façade that makes him unlikable at the start – too loud, too cynical, too egotistic, too fake. How could she have loved this guy, how could she love him still?
That disbelief gives way, due largely to the compelling, emotionally truthful performance by Michele Amas. We see them as a young couple very much in love with each other and later as adoring parents. At the same time we’ve already seen where the baby’s death has lead them, to an acrimonious divorce.
The best moments between the two are often those where no words are spoken, it’s all in the look.
Susan Wilson and her cast have an overly wordy script to deal with. As William, Andrew Foster comes into his own about halfway through the play and that’s mainly because it needs pruning. The playwright’s language, to be sure, is gorgeous. This is a play which will resonate with many people.
THE death of a child is every parent’s nightmare and that makes it potentially powerful theatre.
It’s well covered territory, including Carl Nixon’s The Raft which was seen in Wellington just last year. Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith takes a different tack to Nixon – here the parents have separated, as often happens, and one of them has buried their grief rather than dealing with it.
The cast of two has a monumental task. They hold the stage for 90 minutes, and must carry us with them back in time in between sparring in the present. Murray-Smith has Isabel (Michele Amas) summon her ex – William (Andrew Foster) – to her art studio for a 90 minute conversation, before his wedding to a much younger woman. She’s up front, she misses him and questions his motives for taking a trophy wife. He’s up front, he doesn’t love Isabel any more, he’s intoxicated with the fame he’s found as an actor.
So what are her motives? Not what we may think. Gradually, she tries to strip away the protective layers of pretence.
It’s that façade that makes him unlikable at the start – too loud, too cynical, too egotistic, too fake. How could she have loved this guy, how could she love him still?
That disbelief gives way, due largely to the compelling, emotionally truthful performance by Michele Amas. We see them as a young couple very much in love with each other and later as adoring parents. At the same time we’ve already seen where the baby’s death has lead them, to an acrimonious divorce.
The best moments between the two are often those where no words are spoken, it’s all in the look.
Susan Wilson and her cast have an overly wordy script to deal with. As William, Andrew Foster comes into his own about halfway through the play and that’s mainly because it needs pruning. The playwright’s language, to be sure, is gorgeous. This is a play which will resonate with many people.
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