Love Child

I’m not one for local theatre, I really have no idea what it’s all about; but when you read that “...one of Adelaide’s ‘grand-dames’ Chrissie Page, and one of our brightest ‘bright-young-things’ Anna Cheeney…” performing in a play about femininity and love, you can’t help but be a little excited about what you’re about to see.

Love Child is the story of a mother and daughter: the daughter she gave up for adoption who wants to reconnect & the disconnected mother who wants to distance herself from what occurred. The stage works extremely well in the story telling too, the simple set up and lighting works well to show the distant and vacant lives that both characters seem to have lived up till this first meeting. You almost forget these two women are acting. Its like watching something in your own lounge room unfold.

The are moments of humour too, and little digs at disposable celebrity and the trash shown on television (Taxidrivettes; the series about female taxi drivers who are undercover sex therapists). [Pete Thought: "Cliche ridden morally bankrupt sedation" is a phrase I plan to use more in life.] The journey becomes turbulent about half way through, when each character realises that the other is no idea what they were expecting, and begin to battle each other with their words through the dark places in their minds. But they grow stronger against each other, matching each other every time until the final twist is revealed. It is a stunning conclusion to the show. I took the opportunity to observe the audience, and everyone was focused waiting to see how it would continue to unfold. Love Child is brilliant.

The performances are spectacular, the writing superb & the opening and closing monologues are perfection. Definitely one for your to-do list.