A YEAR in the lives of a family living out their fairly unsurprising existence in sleepy suburban Australia. Two parents closing in on a retirement of sorts and four grown-up children rubbing along against a background of open skies, lovingly-tended roses and family meals.
But things are soon stirring below the surface of this fine, thoughtful production of Andrew Bovell’s play, and as the year unfolds so do the private lives of the family and their relationships unravel.
One by one the grown-up children are beset by humiliating rejection, the folly of pursuing an unlikely love affair, the upheaval of gender change and the admission of serious financial wrongdoing.
At each turn there is bewilderment and anger but also a depth of support. Somehow despite the worst attentions of a very turbulent storm the family manages to cling together to the floating wreckage they’re left with.
Presenting such a balance between rivalry and unqualified love requires a cast who work together as only a family really can and Lynda Lewis’s production is blessed with just such a group.
Julie Godfrey and Rod Wilkinson as the parents are perfectly matched. When either is baffled or upset, the other will compensate. There’s love but there’s also the tacit acceptance of making do with what you have.
All four offspring – Ruth Herd, Blake Hutchings, Julien Rosa and Alice Arthur – shine in both the quick fire dialogue of family gatherings and the lengthy monologues which allow closer inspection of hopes, feelings and disappointments.
Richard Moore’s garden design is versatile enough to allow the action to flow with very little interruption and the whole production looks good even if at times the Adelaide summer is overcast to the point of darkness.
As seems to be the case in many recent productions, movement plays a large abstract part. The choreographed moments are, however, well-handled and the sequence when the grieving father is dressed and prepared for the funeral before our eyes is genuinely moving. There is a stylishness and finish to this production which testifies to the work that has gone into it.
Perhaps the drawn-out ending treads dangerously close to sentimentality, there’s enough here to prompt thought and reflection without the need for overkill, but this is a production which succeeds on every level.
This funny, poignant if occasionally sentimental piece doesn’t really tell us anything coruscatingly new about the confused and internecine nature of human relations. But in its patiently-crafted use of conflict and emotion it does very successfully underline a lot of things we know to be true.
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