Review: CAROL at State Theatre Centre

Tis the season, it seems. Whilst your normal Christmas show may gloss over the uglier side of Christmas, CAROL leans into it, allowing the festive season to be anything but. A belligerent Santa, a family that can’t be held together with any amount of wrapping tape, and a life falling apart, all come to the fore, with a backdrop of a Christmas that may not be pretty, but is certainly quite familiar to many. With some cheeky humour and warmth to rival a scorching summer, CAROL is the Christmas present you didn’t know you wanted.

Andrea Gibbs wrote Carol To shine a light on the fact that woman over 55 are the fastest growing group when it comes to losing secure housing. We meet Carol in the aftermath of losing her husband who leaves behind nothing but gambling debt taken against the mortgage. As such, she is forced to live out of a van. Sally-Anne Upton is simply outstanding as Carol, remaining stoic and determined throughout, though when everything within her does finally boil over, the emotion she puts behind it packs a real punch. Upton brings an air of familiarity to the head of family that keeps Christmas together, which makes it all the more impactful when she is unable and unwilling to continue. Mark Storen plays Santa, who narrates the play with a distinctive Aussie flair. Storen’s portrayal adds a great deal of the comedy to the show, offering a humourous but often brutal take of the characters, all whilst trying to resist intervening and blowing his cover.

Ruby Henaway plays quite a range in her characters, from the supportive but ever on edge gym-junky in therapy, to the actual junky that manages an unsettling scene perfectly. Isaac Diamond shows off similar talent, keeping several characters together as a therapist, whilst driving a large part of the narrative by caring about his mother more as a provider of Christmas than as a person, all topped off with a bit of musicianship. Bruce Denny also brings a range, with an emotional outpouring in therapy contrasting with the tough façade he’d previously given his characters.

The set jumps wonderfully from scene to scene, with McKinven’s set being simple but impactful. The house that is eventually repossessed is nothing but a frame, contrasting perhaps with the van that eventually becomes a home. The music from Jackson Harper Griggs does an outstanding job to shift between the nauseating Christmas music everyone’s tired of by mid-November, to hilarious tunes for Santa, to genuinely atmospheric additions to the unfolding plot. The true power of CAROL is not that it portrays any sort of Christmas ideal, in fact it is all the more powerful for portraying the stark realities of the Christmas season with a Western Australian flavour that is honest and unromanticised. Adam Mitchell’s direction ensures that each scene rings with an air of familiarity. Several characters and scenes are ones we recognise, but even when we see something we’ve never experienced, we’re reminded that we’re not far from it.

Christmas is never perfect, and CAROL accepts and plays on this fact of life. There is no sugar coating of uncomfortable realities, and things don’t suddenly resolve themselves. Indeed, there is a certain poignancy in the way that CAROL resolves the narrative, with the title character revelling in the very simplest of things. Whilst her wishes are allowed to come true, her arc is more of those wishes becoming simpler. At a time of year when people may be bored of hyper colourful Christmas tropes, CAROL portrays a more realistic but equally as warm vision of the season. It is as rough around the edges as poorly done wrapping, and the brightness and colour may be failing Christmas lights, but this superb play reminds us that all that is OK.  

CAROL is playing at Heath Ledger Theatre at the State Theatre Centre until December 14. Tickets and more information from BLACK SWAN Theatre Company.