REVIEW: COLLAPSIBLE Is A Solid Expression Of The Challenge Of Understanding One's Own Identity In A World That Wants Everyone To Be Ok But Never Really Checks If We Hones

Saturday 11th March 2023, 7:30pm, Old Fitz Theatre

Janet Anderson shines in Margaret Perry's (Playwright) award winning solo play COLLAPSIBLE. Under Zoë Hollyoak and Morgan Moroney's direction, the at turns comic and tragic tale of a young woman's struggle to define her identity and keep going when her world is crumbling is presented with clarity and ingenuity as the technology that has contributed to her anxiety and confusion is engaged to express her story.

The "Collapsible" of the title relates to the response Esther (Janet Anderson), better known as Essie, gives her sister when asked how she feels. The 20'something Essie responds that she feels like a chair, particularly a folding a chair, the kind that can shift from sturdy and sure to collapsed and unstable in a moment. Presented from Essie's point of view, the 70-minute monologue shares Essie's views on her world from being fired from her job where she had committed herself to perfection at all costs, to being dumped by her girlfriend, and finding herself needing to sell herself in job interviews that asked the same tedious questions of "describe yourself" and "what do you see as your weakness". With the aid of live camera feeds, Essie replays the conversations with family, friends where she is seeking their input for her list of qualities, she can cite in job interviews and resulting interviews with potential employers. While live camera feed has been used in large mainstage productions, think Sydney Theatre Company scale, the use in this circumstance allows the other characters in Essie's stories to be expressed with creative angles and the use of some amusing surprise elements. It is refreshing that Morgan Moroney and Daniel Herten, the co-Video Designers, have ensured that the use of technology serves the storyline rather than trying to become the hero of the work.

Janet Anderson, who was recently seen in OVERFLOW, delivers another captivating performance as Essie. She infuses a truth and understanding into the work that ensures that the work is easily relatable on at least some level, if not many, for all of the audience. There is an expression of intuitive expression while the work maintains a precision throughout, reinforced when Anderson's movements match perfectly with the animations that express a more surreal connection with her body and mind as Essie shifts from coping to crumbling, or to use the show's metaphor, collapsing. Her ability to shift between Essie and the various characters Essie turns to as she explores defining her qualities and the people interviewers she tries to relay these characterizations to precise while retaining a fluidity to the quick shifts. There is a high degree of 'choreography' of this work which Anderson presents with ease as she ensures she is positioned perfectly for the two cameras to pick up the necessary angles and features that may be characterizing the other speaker and is in contrast to Essie's reactions.

Hayden Relf has created an intriguing asymmetrical set that at first glance appears to be a simple expression of an institutional waiting room, complete with linoleum tiles and unwelcoming hard chairs and the obligatory broadleaf plant but there are surprise elements throughout. The raised nature of the stage allows the two cameras to move around the edges unobtrusively, further reinforcing that the video designers understood that the technology should complement, not command. Relf's costuming connects Essie with the career that has had the breaks put on it, reinforcing that she seems to connect a lot of her identity with her work as she never sheds the masculine suit, tie and running shoes regardless of the situations she finds herself in. Morgan Moroney's lighting design engages a variety of styles with a clever use of the mobile phone in the first scene, shifting focus from the device in Anderson's hand to the television screen that is broadcasting the video Essie is watching. The sound design adds depth to the ever increasing intensity of Essie's feeling of foreboding lack of control.

With a relatively new playwright and a relatively new performer, this production of COLLAPSIBLE proves that sometimes there are wonderful new 'discoveries' that you know you have to sit up and pay attention to. COLLAPSIBLE is a story that has recognizable and relatable elements and Hollyoak and Moroney have ensured that it is told with energy and creativity. With Perry in the process of producing some commissioned work and her newest work premiering last year, it will be interesting to see what else she will deliver. Janet Anderson is also a definite must track performer as the evidence indicates she could be the next big thing.

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

Photos: Phil Erbacher