Scott is an AFL football player who is waiting at his family
home to meet the son he never knew he had. Brother Ben is more interested in
Scott’s career than the result of Scott’s one-night-stand. Mother Marilyn is
excited to meet her first grandchild, while criticising daughter Jules for not
becoming a mother herself.
Spencer, a new
play by Katy Warner (A Prudent Man),
is a rapid-fire comedy about expectations amongst family. While Marilyn’s
focused much of her energy on Scott’s AFL career, she’s given up hope on her
other two children. And, to be fair, they’ve given up too; on dreams both big
and small.
There are a lot of stories about parents having high
expectations for their children, but Katy’s new play also digs into children’s
expectations of their parents. In some ways, Ben and Jules’ stories of losing
faith in Marilyn are more compelling than their mother losing faith in them.
And when their estranged biological father arrives, tensions are higher and the
uncomfortable, sometimes brutal laughs come thick and fast.
Director Sharon Davis keeps the pace up for most of the play’s
running time, only allowing the audience and the characters a moment to catch
their breaths during the occasional fade to black. In some ways, Spencer plays like a domestic drama
punctured by cutting remarks; if you played this story straight, it could be
unbearable. But sometimes, with family, you gotta laugh.
There’s a lot of high energy work on the stage in this
production, none more so than Lyall Brooks in the role of Ben. He’s the biggest
disappointment of the family; divorced, living with his mother, coaching
Auskick and a complete slob. Lyall bounces around on stage, lunging, stretching
and eating M&Ms off his chest. His speech about coco-pops is both gross and
hilarious and some late play business with a piñata is stellar physical comedy.
Jane Clifton’s Marilyn brightens up the stage in her
colourful costumes even as she darkens her children’s days. She’s unhappy with
Ben and Jules’ life, but she’s also struggling to understand why her successful
son might not be enjoying the career she sacrificed so much for. It’s a truly
remarkable performance; a mother you can’t stand but come to understand.
Rob Sowinski’s set feels like outer-eastern-suburbs chic
from the 1970s that Marilyn and family have never updated. This family is stuck
in the past in many ways, retelling jokes they’ve told all their lives and
being unable to grow up.
Spencer is the child and grandchild the family is waiting
for to arrive. They are already pouring their dreams into him, a child of
two-years-old. Spencer captures a day
in the life of a family who once had high expectations for each other and, now
that they have failed, are excited to have a new family member that might make
up for wasted opportunities.
And it’s bloody hilarious.
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