Grief, loss and change are most tragic when they collide with normal, mundane lives. This is what is so affecting about Clare Barron’s new play, You Got Older. Under the thoughtful direction of Claudia Barrie, this iteration of the work has its audience stifling belly laughs and sobs in equal measure as we watch very real, relatable and ordinary characters and their conflicts unfold.
When Mae (Harriet Gordon-Anderson) returns home to her rural town to care for her ill father, we are presented with the fine line between being taken care of and being controlled. Barron has captured an uncomfortable truth that humans often seek dominance when things are beyond our control and we see this through Mae’s fantasies as well as as the clinical staff who robotically attend to her father. The play is performed by a breathtakingly strong cast; there is such a powerful honesty and earnest at work here that this production is one of the most moving I have encountered this year. Alex Beauman, Steve Rogers, Cody Ross, Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Ainslie McGlynn and Sarah Rae Anne Meacham make up this powerhouse cast but standout performances come from Gordon-Anderson and Rogers, who capture a sincere, poignant relationship unmatched by any other onstage.
Barrie has created beautiful, authentic moments on stage that support the realism of the work and the relationships between characters. The sharing of food becomes a particularly powerful motif as we watch a family sharing very normal, insignificant moments that are punctuated by our foreshadowed knowledge that they are significant; that they have an expiration.
Isabel Hudson’s set design is so precise and does an excellent job in supporting the narrative as it shifts in time space. Paired with an incredible lighting design (Ben Brockman) we are guided between moments and seasons of the characters’ lives with clarity and emotion. Ben Pierpoint’s sound design is beautiful in its subtle yet moving punctuation of the narrative without giving away anything too soon. We are taken in and out of dream sequences, dances parties and hospital wards with the exquisite collaboration of such a strong design team.
You Got Older i s produced by Mad March Hare Theatre Company and plays at KXT Theatre until August 4.
It is not to be missed.
M. Osborn – Theatre Now
You Got Older
Clare Barron
13 July – 4 Aug 2018
Tue – Sat 7:30pm
Sun 5pm
Venue: Kings Cross Theatre
Theatre Company: Mad March Hare Theatre Co
Duration: N/A
Mae returns home to help take care of Dad and — maybe (a little) — herself. You Got Older is a tender and darkly comic new play about family, illness, and cowboys — and how to remain standing when everything you know comes crashing down around you.
Directed by Claudia Barrie; Set Design: Isabel Hudson; Lighting: Benjamin Brockman; Costume Design: Emily Brayshaw;
Sound Design & Composition: Ben Pierpoint
With Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Alex Beauman, Ainslie McGlynn, Sarah Meacham, Gareth Rickards, Steve Rodgers, Cody Ross
Ticket Prices
Adult $35
Concession $30
