When Cory Taylor was dying, her publisher fast-tracked the publication of her book, Dying: A Memoir, so she could hold it in her hands before she went. She had known she was dying for a long time, but kept it between herself and her husband. Even her sons didn’t know. She didn’t want to burden them. She wanted to keep living her life and not be defined by her illness. But as the inevitable approached, she decided she would write about the experience. She wanted to write one final book to leave behind.
Writer Benjamin
Law was a friend of Cory, though he isn’t sure when or how it happened. They
were writers in Brisbane, and the community is small. Plus, his youngest sister
dated her oldest son, so their lives were intertwined. If the book was her
final contribution to her own legacy, this new stage adaptation by her friend
Ben is his contribution to her memory.
The book
itself was well-received, shortlisted for numerous awards and landed on Barack
Obama’s list of his favourite books of 2017 – the year after Cory died.
The play is
a frank and honest look at Cory’s experience – stunned by the diagnosis,
struggling with how to live with it and wrestling with the end of all things.
Performer Genevieve Morris enters the theatre from behind the seating bank, imploring
everyone to turn their phones off and keep their tissues handy. It’s a sweet
way for her to connect with us and let the audience know that even though the
play is about a woman dying, it’s also going to be full of laughs and the joy of
life.
This production
by Melbourne Theatre Company is very playful. For a long time, Genevieve is on a
black stage that’s populated only by half-a-dozen seats that look like they’ve
been plucked from the auditorium. It’s a simple visual acknowledgement that we’re
all in the same boat, all mortal and while we watch Genevieve as Cory, she’s
also watching us. The same seats with a different perspective.
These seats
are on wheels though and through some simple choreography, the seats are moved
to show Cory’s life being fractured into smaller and smaller pieces. There’s a
moment with three chairs side-by-side and Genevieve moves one away to symbolise
her telling her husband of her diagnosis, leaving two seats alone – her sons
kept in the dark. It’s subtly devastating.
There are
some further tricks up the sleeve of set designer James Lew. That black backdrop
starts to reveal splinters and cracks, like in the pieces of porcelain that
Cory’s husband Shin paints on. Rachel Lee’s lighting design fills in those
fissures, as gold or platinum is used to repair pottery in the Japanese art of
kintsugi. It’s simple but strikes at the heart of the story of a woman holding
herself together, even as she’s falling apart.
Genevieve
Morris is such a great raconteur – you never feel like you’re watching a
performance, but a skilful storyteller relaying the surprising details of a
life. The subject matter is heavy, of course. Discussions of end-of-life care
and the legalities of what was possible are different now than they were a
decade ago. Cory Taylor writes a suicide letter in the show, but we know she
won’t go through with it. Everything in her life is about testing the
possibilities and asking the questions, as she sifts through her remaining
time, trying to get her final book on paper.
Director
Jean Tong has a gentle touch, allowing Genevieve
Morris to keep us laughing for as long as she can, until the facts of the
matter bring down the mood. This isn’t about a woman looking for sympathy, even
though she feels robbed of all the years she expected to have. It’s not even
that much about the arguments around assisted dying. It’s a slice of life; a
slice of Cory's end-of-life.
Dying: A
Memoir is a carefully
wrought eighty-minutes that is honest and moving, adding to Cory Taylor’s
legacy in a generous way. Benjamin Law’s script plays with real-life events and
doesn’t let the facts get in the way of a good theatrical adaptation. It’s touching and hilarious and striking in its simple beauty.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
Dying: A Memoir is on at the Fairfax Studio at Arts Centre Melbourne for MTC until November 29
Photos: Pia Johnson
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