Reviewed by Paul Treasure
Stories are important. Stories allow us to explore who we are, and then we share this with other people and allow them to explore, and share, and so the cycle continues. It is part of what makes us human. There are certain groups of people, however, who have historically been marginalised from this process. Whose stories have not been allowed to be told, or if they have it has only been through the filter of someone else’s story. Or they have had to cloak their stories so they are acceptable to the outside, and coded so only those in the know understand the real meaning. This is why modern queer writing is so important. For generations, we have had to sift and decipher works looking for hints of the real us, or we have had to put up with portrayals that are two-dimensional and how others see us rather than how we see ourselves, or unconsciously designed to make us feel somewhat less than.
perhaps, a theatre company are to be commended and congratulated for tackling this head-on and giving us this production of I Can Still See All the Stars. Created and produced by a team who self-profess to be all queer and female aligned, it endeavours to tackle subjects that are sorely under-represented in our storytelling culture. The play explores the fractured nature of queer relationships, and how the trauma of growing up unable to be our true selves affects us as we negotiate a minefield that is already difficult to navigate for people without the added baggage. The play presents us with scenes from the lives of two young queer women, Andie (played by Lauren Daniels) and Tessa (played by Jessie Kaitlin). Rather than follow a linear trajectory, the author and director, Emmett Aster, has deliberately broken the narrative into countless tiny shards of story and reassembled them into a kaleidoscopic mosaic of tiny moments. This staggeringly brave approach to the story allows us to grasp the entire story at once and allows us to focus less on the plot and devote more time to exploring how our past experiences continue to impact our lives and relationships years later. It is an exceptionally brilliant concept.
If a story deserves to be told, however, it deserves to be told well.
Despite the noble aspirations of the production and those involved, it fell agonisingly short of what it could and should have been. The actors delivered their lines beautifully, but there was a consistent disconnect between the meaning of the often beautiful words coming out of their mouths and a lack of any internal emotion behind them. Each shard of the story flowed into the next with very little change in tone or energy, making it difficult to differentiate when a shift had taken place. In a couple of scenes, each of the actors is called upon to play the other character's ex-partner, but there was so little change in characterisation that it was almost impossible to tell. The very basic set suited the play and the space, but the choice to remove the prominently placed bed at a couple of points broke the momentum, which was a shame as the scenes without the bed were perhaps some of the strongest in the show. The use of just hand-held lamps as lighting for some of the scenes was a beautiful and inspired choice. The rest of the lighting, hampered as it was by the obvious limitations of a venue not built for regular performance, was often poorly timed and executed with lighting cues frequently lagging behind what was happening on stage. A sharper and snappier lighting plot that slightly preempted the changes in the scenes would have benefited the production and our understanding of what was going on, limiting our confusion.
Overall, this was a valiant attempt at a very clever and challenging play tackling important and under-represented themes, but frequently let down by its execution. It is one of those Fringe pieces that seems more like an early draft of a potentially brilliant production, and I sincerely hope that the people involved in this production treat it as such. It is a show well worth seeing for its themes and the way it explores them alone, and with a bit more work on the technicalities of the actual production, it is a show that has the potential to become truly memorable.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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