Reviewed by Jacqui Mulady
October 2012
This three hander was essentially about family secrets – two sisters and a daughter/niece coming together to air their dirty laundry.
The program states “It’s amazing what happens when you mix two bottles of wine and an innocent game of Snakes and Ladders…” Unfortunately it might have been more amazing if the wine was real and it had been given to the audience before the show commenced.
Iris Petitt was very good in her role of the spinster Aunt Emily, however Rosemary Jackson as Charlie and Joanna Webb as Beth appeared uncomfortable and out of place for most of the play. The only time Joanna really appeared believable was during her tirade at finding out the family secret. Rosemary also appeared to suffer from possessed reading glasses. They did not want to stay where they were put and either fell onto her nose or the back of her head a total of 17 times throughout the performance which was very distracting.
Unfortunately it all came across like an episode of “Days of Our Lives” with Tony Moore’s direction having some of the dialogue delivered upstage in the dark or offstage when a cast member was making yet another cup of tea. Anymore and the theatre would have to install an ensuite. Not so subtle fading of interlude music was also a problem.
A comment by Iris that “there is not enough material for mature female actors” and more importantly not enough material written by home grown artists, is definitely true, however I am not quite sure that this production is going to alleviate the problem.
