Teacup in a Storm

Verbatim theatre, by definition, is confronting and challenging for the audience, for the theatre maker … but especially for those who are prepared to share their personal stories and experiences. When those stories are told by the very many, varied – and mostly unsung – carers in our community, the challenges become greater. Why? Because often the experiences they share are tinged, unnecessarily, with guilt, self-reproach and regret, and therefore expose raw edges and fraying self esteem.

But The Q continues its “more than 50 year commitment to the production and presentation of contemporary theatre projects” and this project reaches, courageously, beyond the carers and their families to nurses and teachers, social workers and bureaucrats – and, hopefully, politicians. With the brave help of those who shared their stories, Therese Cook, Marie Chanel, Noelle Janaczweska and Nick Atkins have devised a production that reveals the multitude of responsibilities of those who, often unwittingly, and often at the expense of their own lives and careers, become ‘carers’.

Bringing these stories together into a piece of theatre that is entertaining as well as comprehensive and edifying is difficult – especially when the subject is so diversified and reaches across so many areas of concern. Using a multi-level stage and two performers playing several roles, the production team have woven together the stories of more than eight interviewees in a moving interpretation of the burdensome duties and accountability of ‘caring’, including the unrelenting struggle for official recognition of problems  - and some assistance – from government departments.

Their frustrations, regrets and feelings of failure are tempered with rare but treasured moments of joy, and the amazing revitalisation that just an hour or two of respite can bring.

Written by Janaczweska and directed by Atkins, these daunting roles are undertaken with great compassion by Therese Cook and Marie Chanel, who work hard with material that is personal, serious and at times heart-breakingly intense. Fortunately Janaczweska – through the interviewees themselves – has injected the gentle humour that is so typical of those who bear such heavy loads. This lightens the confrontational ‘load’ on the audience, as does the shift from one character to another as the ‘chapters’ of their stories unfold.

Atkins uses the set – a kitchen, a laundry, a bedroom, a living room designed by Jonathan Hindmarsh – to underline these transitional shifts, though sometimes the movement between rooms and levels becomes a little distracting, as does the use of some clever, but really unnecessary, theatrical ‘tricks’ that seem to detract from the otherwise fairly tight and straight direction.

Liam O’Keefe (lighting) and Danielle O’Keefe (sound) have realised the vision of the devising team by providing changes of mood and place to support the performers. However, at times, shadows obscure the earnestness of their expressions – and, also only at times, repetitious sound effects detract from their audibility in softer more serious moments.

Regardless, the production as a whole is a credit to the brave and honest people who were prepared to share their stories, and to intrepid team at The Q … who were prepared to take on such a sensitive but socially important issue, who obviously listened with great compassion and empathy and who wrote and performed with such sensitivity and understanding.

Carol Wimmer