Review /// The Only Child

Photo credit: Andrew Malmo

The Silo Theatre production is quite the spectacle, with buckets of nudity, cussing, and water flying into at least the first row, with a bit of mashed chocolate cake and confetti thrown in for good measure. By the end the stage is a soupy mess on the bathroom floor, as are the characters who provide a strikingly accurate portrayal of the mercurial marriage; the one that is so absolutely over, but will really always be there to nag at you.

When Rita and Alfred’s disabled son goes missing, Alfred is forced to return home from the hills where he’s been “doing some thinking” for the past few months.  He is the father who’s just realised he’s let his son down and it’s probably too late. He finds Rita hiding in the bathroom, and as more is revealed about their son’s disappearance, he too retreats to the bathroom, confining himself to the bathtub where he bathes (quite appropriately) in his own visceral state.

Photo credit: Andrew Malmo

There he is tormented, as much in his mind as by Rita, who is furious at the descent of their marriage perhaps more than the loss of their poor son. Between them is Alfred’s half-sister, who provides an added tension with a hint of incest – why is she the one to clothe Alfred when he refuses to clothe himself?

The Only Child is acutely honest, each character unfolding to expose a selfishness; they are all as awful as each other. And who is the real only child? The father seeing visions in the bathtub, the mother screaming with sexual frustration and resent, the sister who tries far too hard, or even the goofy neighbour, irritatingly ever-present and all-too-desperate to lend a hand.

It’s so easy to knock Shortland Street as being “as far as any kiwi actor will ever go”, but with explosive performances from both Claire Chitham and Josephine Davison, perhaps Shorty really is an appropriate training ground for things bigger and better. Stephen Lovatt and Sam Snedden do well to match the women, both equally irritating and unlovable in a way that ensures each character is a fascinating as the next.

Congratulations to our winners of the Double Passes to this Wednesday's performance of The Only Child:

Leanne Rickard
Amy Pollard
Nicki Judkins