Written and performed by Camilla Blunden. The Street Theatre. 24 May 2015
It’s not often that a play fails to inspire any feeling in me whatsoever, but there you have it – while the blurb for Camilla Blunden’s All This Living! sounded quite promising, sadly it was a non-event.
The one-woman show explores the experience of old age from a fictional lady’s perspective, and is the result of the playwright’s discussions with Canberra’s elders and her research into mythical archetypal stories of hags, crones et al.
Expecting a rather profound insight into an issue that is becoming more frequently discussed as Australia tackles the challenge of an ageing population, the audience is instead offered a rather incoherent and disjointed mish-mash of monologue and thought bubble narration.
With all of that, no doubt, fascinating content gleaned in preparation for writing the play, the 45-minute show leaves no time to delve into any kind of meaningful territory. What is supposed to be an investigation of the “third stage of life” turns out to be a paddle in the shallow end of the pool.
And while it is easy to accept the bizarre when you know there is method behind the madness, the furry onesie and scattered display of kitchen pots makes no more sense at the conclusion of the show than it does at the outset – and frankly, it is hard work to stay engaged.
Occasionally you catch a glimpse of what All This Living! could have become with more workshopping: a fantastically droll joke here, an impassioned rejection of stereotypes there, but overall it comes off as hastily undercooked. While we are promised a character plus her story and journey, nothing of substance ever really materialises.
This is not to say by any means that the gorgeous Blunden isn’t a talented performer, but rather that the issue is with the content. Her feisty stage presence itself is actually rather magnetic, and with a more developed script there’s no doubt she would have blown the show out of the water.
But, as it is All This Living! is unfortunately a case of lost potential.
Deborah Hawke
When: 20 to 31 May
Where: The Street Theatre
Bookings: thestreet.org.au
