This was a memorable night at the theatre especially for devotees, such as myself, of this very special theatre.
Lorraine Bayly and Sandra Bates, two thespians who have played such a central figure in the theatre’s growth over its fifty seven years, reprise the roles that they originally played at the Ensemble back in 1997.
They have both agreed that these performances are their swansongs from the theatre. Their choice is a very prudent one in relation to this theatre’s history. Some twenty years ago the Ensemble Theatre premiered John Misto’s play where it was an instant success and is now regarded as a classic Australian work, that is performed regularly by theatre companies around the country.
Their final performances, playing two Aussie nurses and pals, Sheila and Bridie, during the second World War trapped in the hell of a Japanese prisoner of war camp, are focused and heart-felt. They leave their home stage on a very high note.
Misto’s story is told in flashback. It is many years after their hellish experience and the two ladies, who haven’t seen each other since the war, are reunited when they are asked to participate in a television documentary about this terrible time. The show’s producers set them up in a city motel room for the duration of the making of the program and their time together is a very emotional one and one where a lot of healing takes place.
Bridie and Sheila had a sister like relationship during their internment, always tending and watching out after each other. Sandra Bates played the ‘big sister’ Bridie and Lorraine Bayly was little sister, junior, Sheila.
Misto contrasts his characters well…Sheila, coming from a private school background in England, is the more reserved of the duo, whilst Bridie is harder skinned, coming from working class stock and being brought up in suburban Chatswood. There are jokes about this during the play.
We never get to see their laid-back, warm interviewer, Rick. His part is played by voice-over, well carried out by another Ensemble theatre regular, Jamie Oxenbould.
At its heart, THE SHOE-HORN SONATA is a survivors story. The two women do everything in their power to get through to the end of the war. When they finally win their freedom it is almost an anti-climax..they have been waiting so long.
Music plays a large part in their survival. Bridie and Sheila, along with the other nurses interned, join together to sing classic songs from the time when they ever get a chance. In the play’s penultimate scene, when their spirits are lowest, they hear a group of Aussie soldiers who have been briefly stationed nearby, singing in unison, and they respond in kind.
The play’s staging- Sandra Bates is the director, Annie Gardiner, the designer- is an exercise in simplicity and elegance. The front stage area is the motel room they share…the back area is the television studio…..Archival photos from the war are projected onto a screen above the performers. A classic theatre curtain is draped across the ‘back wall’. Through the play Peter Neufeld’s lighting design works very effectively.
Highly recommended, try and get to see this lovingly crafted work of theatre, featuring two old friends playing two old friends, before it closes. THE SHOE-HORN SONATA plays the Ensemble theatre until Sunday 28th June and then there is a final performance at the Concourse, Chatswood, on Thursday 2nd July.