The Only Child: Belvoir Downstairs Theatre

The Only Child: Belvoir Downstairs Theatre

We enter to see Claude Marcos’ stunning set, comprising a wooden-floored bathroom, featuring a beautiful claw-foot bath complete with gold taps. Hot water pours luxuriously from an overhead shower into the tub, slightly steaming initially, later falling heavily as drowning rain. Teegan Lee’s excellent lighting design shimmers over the water in the tub, which reflects an eerie, intriguing, cold blue.

Currently playing at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre, The Only Child, inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, was written by Simon Stone with Thomas Henning, and devised with The Hayloft Project cast. Although strongly reminiscent of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, in his director’s notes, Simon Stone writes, “This play exists at the intersection of 9 collaborators’ contributions, and if it works, this is why”. The Only Child undoubtedly works. The script is cleverly crafted, economical yet descriptive with language, and epic in its exploration of the human potential for grief and love. The cast bares both flesh and soul in their emotionally brave performances.

Alfred (Tom Wren) and Rita’s (Shelly Lauman) crippled nine-year-old son, Eylof, has gone missing. Rita waits in the bathroom with her sister-in-law, Asta (Anne-Louise Sarks), for updates from the police. Alfred rushes home from three months of ‘thinking’ atop a mountain, bursting with belated father-son projects to salvage his previously non-existent relationship with Eylof. Henrik (Gareth Davies) enters, bearing coffee, nervous smiles for Asta, and socially inept clichés.

Just as Albee’s George and Martha need Nick and Honey to play their sordid games, Rita demands that Henrik and Asta witness the destruction of her marriage to Alfred. Just as George and Martha tell stories and use sex and cruelty to push each other beyond breaking point, Henrik and Asta become pawns in Rita and Alfred’s desperate search for a way to continue life.

The influence of Ibsen on this work is undisguised, which strengthens the impact and uniqueness of this powerful and evocative play. It is rare for new work to acknowledge its sources of inspiration, perhaps through a desire to be perceived as wholly new. Yet by inviting us to recognise the plots and characters that shaped modern theatre, The Hayloft Project imbues The Only Child with the depth of emotion that accompanies a sense of universal, and eternal, search for humanity.

A shaky and forced opening between the women soon settles, primarily thanks to a wonderful injection of reality from Davies. His stumbling attempts to sooth the anxious family are honest, heartfelt and endearing. It is a shame that the magic created by genuine wrong-footedness is later overridden by drunkenness. Though Davies performed impeccably, removing ‘drunk’ as a justification for his behaviour would add poignancy to Henrik’s attempts to impose normality on the surreal behaviour that surrounds him.

Tom Wren plays a magnificent Alfred. He is emotionally raw, truthful, and heart-wrenchingly confused. It is Alfred whom we most want to be redeemed, and Wren performs this pivotal journey with generosity and truth. Shelly Lauman is admirable as Alfred’s wife, Rita. In a strange case of life reflecting art, Lauman shone when the full ensemble were onstage. Early on, and most noticeably during her monologue to Alfred, Lauman lacked expressive variety, which detracted from the honesty of her performance. However, her final scenes were excellent, complete with courageous choices and emotional detail.

Anne-Louise Sarks, as Alfred’s half-sister Asta, has a difficult role, the calming voice of reason amongst the tumultuous emotion of Rita and Alfred and the engaging faux pas of Henrik. Sarks rarely swerved from this rational approach, leaving us questioning Asta’s motivation for remaining emotionally disengaged. A scene in which Asta dries and dresses Alfred much as a mother dresses a small child begins softly and sweetly, but stretches too long without evolving to provide any further insight into Asta’s view of their questionable relationship.

Similarly, the work could easily dispense with blackouts between scenes. The sloshing sound of water we could not see broke our emotional connection as our thoughts wandered to the logistical difficulties presented by a full bathtub on stage. The power of this play comes from exposing cruel truths about its characters so it seems unnecessary to conceal their vulnerability and awkwardness entering and exiting the bathroom.

The Hayloft Project say, “The ensemble is made up of actors and theatremakers who are committed to shaping an Australian theatre culture that reflects and engages with younger generations, and who are united in their desire to create vital, passionate, visceral theatre that lives long in the memory”. The Only Child comes very close to achieving this goal.

The Only Child: Belvoir Downstairs Theatre
The Hayloft Project

Belvoir Downstairs Theatre
September 17 – October 11
Reviewed: 20 September, 2009