The Waltz

Irene likes to walk up a hill overlooking Bondi to escape her overprotective daughter (and swig from a hipflask of whiskey.) Alf likes to sit at the top of the same hill, drawing faces he can no longer recognise after a stroke damaged his memory. When Irene recognises some of the people in Alf’s paintings, they begin to realise that they have a shared past in the bohemian, free-spirited Sydney of the 1960s.

This is a play aiming to disrupt stereotyping of older people, particularly those of the much-maligned boomer generation who are not given credit for being the social revolutionaries that they were. And it works well, with good performances from Pauline Mullen and Martin Sanders and direction bringing out the emotional flow and creating some lovely poignant moments towards the end.

But it could be even better with a tighter edit with more emphasis on showing not telling, and more subtle characterisations. I think I was spoiled by the production of Wild Thing earlier this year, which covered some of the same subject matter. One thing Wild Thing did very well was to show the characters of the women just before their adult lives began, all full of dreams and promise, then cut quickly to the same women in the twilight of their lives, which was such a shock it gave whiplash. This play missed the opportunity to play similar tricks by interweaving scenes from the 1960s rather than dialogic exposition.

I am inclined to believe Irene’s character was underdeveloped. There were some events that didn’t ring true—for instance in the opening Irene shuffles sideways along a park bench to snuggle up to Alf so hard that she literally knocks Alf onto the ground. It would work if it were more subtle – perhaps if she were moving into his personal space and him shifting away, but the way it’s done it’s just unlikely. Older people are acutely aware of how likely that would be to cause someone to break a hip and just wouldn’t do it. She is not senile, so how does she not recognise the face, name, or nickname of the love of her life who broke her heart when he moved out? Or was that intended to be comedic? Later, she makes some exceptionally cruel and selfish decisions which Alf comes to blithely accept far too easily. She didn’t quite make sense to me.

But then, I’m not of the same generation as the two characters, and perhaps that underlies my not ‘getting’ Irene. There is great period music and the play is fun and poignant, and it’s definitely worth the reminder that our stereotypes of the elderly disrespect all their revolutionary achievements.

Cathy Bannister

Photographer: Geoff Moseley