REVIEW: I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is) by Sarah Matthews – Melbourne Fringe
Friendship at any age can be tricky. Trying to find the time to be present, to listen to their joys and woes, to not trauma dump or be trauma dumped upon. It, of course, all feels much more monumental when you’re young and trying to find the people you really click with for the long haul. Every perceived slight can turn into an end-of-the-world argument and then settle back down after you’ve had some time apart.
These feelings can be intensified at a pressure-cooker house party, especially an end-of-lease
party when friends might go their separate ways forever. Even the fact this
so-called friend has decided to move out is a comment on you, right? It has to
be something you’ve done wrong. The shifting sands of early adulthood – new
relationships, new housemates and the changing relationship with our parents –
mean it’s harder to pin things down. How do you build a support network when your
friends could leave you at any moment?
Max (Mads Lou) and Luce (Reuby Chip) have been living together for a while. If they are going their separate ways, why not have one last get-together in their first place out of home. It’s a low-key costume party, too. Max and their boyfriend, Henry (Jo Jabalde), are dressed as Bert and Ernie. Luce is Woody from Toy Story. Max’s sister Sav (Ally Long) turns up later as Baz Luhrmann’s Juliet in angel wings. Dressed as Kim Possible, the kinda costume you throw together at the last minute, is Indie (Eliza Carlin). Indie acts as a go-between; the roaming support network every house party needs when the emotional chaos sets in.
Produced by
indie company PigeonPigeon (Ryan Hamilton, Georgie Wolfe), I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is) by Sarah Matthews is a
tightly written, sharply executed piece of theatre. The choice to stage it in
the Trades Hall carpark (at the Fringe Hub) means that while the action takes
place in the share-house bathroom, the party that’s going on through the rest
of the house and outside is being scored by the Fringe crowds at the outdoor seating
one floor below. It’s a lovely use of a non-traditional space that enhances the
experience.
The ensemble
works together seamlessly, creating characters that feel like they are friends
that live together rather than having lifelong bonds. The character of Luce is
brash and obnoxious, but Chip’s performance slowly reveals a hurt at his
centre. The scene where he lashes out at Sav is brutal, but telling. Max and
Henry’s relationship goes through numerous ups and downs during the night,
which is the most indelible memory I have of long-ago house parties full of a
thousand emotions.
The conscious
decision not to cast to a specified gender makes things feel current and fresh,
even if these same dramas have been happening forever. Lighting designer
Georgie Wolfe – whose work is always exciting, has found a way to illuminate this
grey but graffitied space in a way that makes it feel like we’re stumbling into
the bathroom with these characters. The lights of the party following us in,
even if in reality it would be harsh and bright.
Director
Carly Watson puts the show in traverse, the audience gathered on two sides,
staring at the action, close to moments intimate and ridiculous and
life-changing. Or so it feels. Matthews’ script is consistently entertaining,
taking big swings between hilarity and hurt. The story takes turns that I didn’t suspect
but feel earned and inevitable.
I
Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is) captures that youthful feeling of
losing your footing and not knowing who’s going to catch you or if you have to
catch yourself.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
It’s playing
at Trades Hall until Oct 16th – but it’s selling fast!
Photos:
Jaimi Houston
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