2.20AM

By Rebecca Lister. Ad Astra, Brisbane. 13 to 28 November 2020

I didn’t expect to enjoy a short play that deals with suicide as its central subject. But Ad Astra co-founder and director Jacqueline Kerr presents the Brisbane premiere of Rebecca Lister’s 2.20AM as a warm and humour-filled story about the resilience of friendship and human connections. The title relates to the time that one character wakes up every morning to run the gauntlet of emotions and questions that she manages to supress during the daylight hours.

It helps that Kerr has assembled four very talented performers to portray the participants in a survivors’ writing group. Caitlyn Leo manages a balancing act as Emma, the calm writing instructor, facilitating carefully designed exercises to help her three students, while paddling furiously under the surface to deal with her own family loss. As the reluctant students, Sandra Harman, Georgia Shaw and Gregory J Wilken make a strong trio – each embodying their characters’ vulnerabilities under a thin veneer: Harman’s Trish heartbreakingly uses a friendly ‘mother’ mask, baking bring-to-class dinners to conceal her bereavement; Shaw’s Stella captures perfectly the bratty know-it-all millennial, using a shield of ‘whatever’ and her ever-present iPod to hide her fears; and Wilken is spot-on as Dave, the tough tradie who wears his hi-vis jacket like an armour to protect his raw emotions. The performances in this production are the perfect balance of heartache and humour, touching all the right tones in a clever script that weaves four equally weighted story strands into a very engaging and satisfying whole. Despite the harrowing experiences of each character, their connections prove that sharing our grief can make us more resilient and stronger together.

Kerr is passionate about promoting Australian writers. Rebecca Lister is a Queensland-born writer, performer and teacher with decades of experience as an artist, but also as a social worker. In 2.20AM, the writer brilliantly puts to use her lived experience and in-depth knowledge of group therapy processes. A writing workshop’s exercises provide the structure – a backdrop for the characters to interact, and the impetus for each of their stories to emerge. The 90-minute play’s action mostly set in the writing workshop room is helped along by a soundtrack of Aussie pop tunes. The intimate feel of Ad Astra’s Fortitude Valley studio space certainly helps the audience feel close and connected to the people portrayed on the small stage – so much so that, as the four characters work their way towards a final class showcase performance, it’s hard not to feel as emotional as a supportive relative attending an end-of-year recital. Fortunately, the play’s final image is powerfully positive – and hopefully empowering for anyone in the audience who has experienced losing someone they love in such a harrowing way. Ad Astra are proving to be a group to watch carefully for emerging local talent. And it’s a bonus to discover a local writer being showcased by such a gifted group.

Beth Keehn

Images: Ad Astra

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