Reviewed by Rachel Doulton
How do we reconcile the missed chances, the life paths branching out from what could've been said or done? All The Times I Could Have was the development of a piece from Blue Room Theatre's 600 Seconds program in 2024 that has now been fleshed out to a festival-appropriate 50 minutes for State of Play at State Theatre Centre in the Middar Room. Evocative of the Sylvia Plath's Fig Tree analogy that all young women who have read The Bell Jar would still feel its keen sting, this show helps to lessen the blow of closed doors and opportunities just out of reach.
Jaimee Whirledge and Anja Starkiss form The Almost Collective, a theatre company focused on producing confessional, intimate, and poetic stories. On stage, they both executed this well, with an earnest vulnerability that had both older members of the audience chuckling with knowing and younger members with a sense of current familiarity.
They conceptualised the missed chances, unspoken words, the “almosts” into a liminal space that the characters would be pulled in and out of during moments of connection with the people they love. This was effectively done with the synthesised sound design and lighting that showed the connection of those past regrets of things left unspoken strung together to make up who we are in the present.
Both Whirledge and Starkiss complimented each other well and kept a meditative pace throughout. It made the themes that would otherwise induce a spiral into dread and solicitude, approachable in a way that invited reflection and gratitude. The calmness of the timbre may have gotten in the way of their projection however as it was not always easy to hear what was being said especially in moments underlaid with the music.
Whilst the Fig Tree analogy leaves you with despair at the inevitability of regret and uncertainty, this show holds your hand through the existential anxiety to find the beacons of light and joy that lead from the moments we never had. To paraphrase one of the lines that perfectly encapsulated the message of this show, “loving gestures of the present, shadow the future of a life not lived.”
All The Times I Could Have urges us to take a chance, push through the fear of rejection and cringe to earnestly connect with each other and give voice to the words usually unspoken and take hold of the “almosts” from now on and not regret the paths we didn't take.
Reviewer note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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