Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART Uncovers The Magrath Sisters' Unspoken Secrets With Heart And Humour

Tuesday 21st March 2017, 8:15pm, Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo

Beth Henley's 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning CRIMES OF THE HEART delves into the tragedy riddled lives of three sisters, highlighting the importance of remembering that people have their own secret stories and not everything is as they first appear. Heart and humour is used to deal with the darkness and pain that overshadows the story in a 'Southern Gothic tragicomedy'.

Taking place in the kitchen of Old Granddaddy's house where Lenny (Laura Pike) has remained to look after the aging and ailing grandfather, the story of the Magrath sisters unfolds. Eldest Lenny celebrates a pitiful 30th birthday by herself with a squashed cookie and recalcitrant candles as she is interrupted by her condescending, bossy and thoroughly obnoxious cousin Chick Boyle (Amy Usherwood) who proceeds to mess up Lenny's perfect and tidy kitchen and attempt to provoke the dowdy Lenny. Whilst Chick belittles Lenny and her sisters for their mother tarnishing the family name the young women discusses the fate of Lenny's youngest sister Babe Botrelle (Renae Small) as Babe has been accused of shooting her husband Zackery Botrelle, injuring the aspiring politician. Chick also takes the opportunity to highlight that Lenny's middle sister Meg has also done little to restore the family respectability, having been a favourite amongst the town boys growing up before leaving for Los Angeles to pursue as singing career. With Meg returned from Los Angeles and Babe released on bail, the three sisters figure out how to handle their fate, each holding secrets of their own as they seek to protect their hearts.

Jonathan Hindmarsh returns to the Old Fitz to create another wonderfully detailed set, this time a kitchen in the small town of Hazelhurst Mississippi in 1974. A gas stove sits alongside a small kitchen bench and sink whilst a black Bakelite rotary phone sits on a hall stand near the back door. A retro curved refrigerator is stocked with bottles of coke and jars for flour, sugar and salt are lined up on the bench. A wooden sideboard houses crockery and glassware and drawers of miscellaneous supplies whilst a small kitchen table, joined by three vinyl chairs sits beneath a suspended tin lamp. Hindmarsh has ensured that the realism of the space supports the performance with gas plumbed into the stovetop and water connected to the taps.

Hindmarsh has also woven his magic on the costumes which help round out the characters before they can even begin to speak. The sweet younger Babe is in a light floating pink frock whilst the old beyond her years Lenny is in a buttoned up shirt and sensible skirt in shades of beige and wayward middle sister Meg is in tight midriff t-shirt and flares with flowing hair, all posing a contrast to the social climbing Chick in trendier belted print dress. Babe's young lawyer Barnette Lloyd (Caleb Alloway is formal and well finished in suit and tie whilst Meg's former love Doc Porter's country simplicity and domesticity is conveyed with check shirt and jeans.

Presented with consistent southern accents, the quintet, under the direction of Janine Watson, deliver a well paced performance that hits the comic moments well, ensuring the balance of levity and gravity of the situations heightens the mystery and intrigue. The core trio of sisters is led by Laura Pike as Lenny, who Pike presents as the more responsible and repressed of the sisters, exhibiting a restraint compared to her sisters. Her physicality is also one of a person more resigned to a fate out of lack of confidence and belief that her Old Granddaddy's statements that no one would want her are true. As Meg, Amanda McGregor conveys the young woman who wants people to think she's a capricious free spirit whilst harbouring a deeper darker secret and fear of being seen as weak. Renae Small's Babe is probably the most complex of the siblings and Small presents her in a manner to elicit sympathy immediately, regardless of whether or not she may be guilty. Whilst each are troubled by their mother's suicide that led to them living with their Old Granddaddy, Babe's socially advantageous marriage to high flier Zackary has also led her to a life of loneliness and abuse. Small conveys Babe's love and care for her young negro lover Willie J with a tenderness and loyalty whilst she deals with the demons in her head that made her feel isolated.

In the supporting role of Chick, Amy Usherwood presents the condescending arrogant cousin with a physicality and tone that automatically has the audience disliking her whilst highlighting how strong Lenny has been to put up with her for years. Rowan Davie conveys that Doc Porter is a gentle, trusting soul that is ready to help his neighbours but still harbouring an attachment to Meg some 5 years after the tornado where she left him in danger. Caleb Alloway portrays the young lawyer Barnette Lloyd with a 'vendetta' of his own against Zackery Botrelle as having an initial innocence and naivety whilst also harbouring an attraction for Babe. It's not until he discloses the vendetta and his desire that Alloway allows Barnette's complexity show.

An interesting and light play even with the dark undertones, CRIMES OF THE HEART is a nice inclusion in Old Fitz Theatre's "Unspoken" 2017 season, capturing the theme whilst being a lighter work than the other works in the line up. Whilst first produced in 1979, it still holds a relevance in the fact that domestic violence, mental illness and racial prejudice still remains in society, allowing the work to still be meaningful for an Australian audience in 2017.

CRIMES OF THE HEART

Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo

https://www.redlineproductions.com.au/

Photos: Rupert Reid