In our older years, we sort of know most things about ourselves. I could tell you a lot of personal stuff if you asked me… and you held a psychiatrist’s licence. But last night I learned something new about my inner world. I’m a naysayer. I wouldn’t have thought that this is the case but there it is… Just hanging in the air of Old 505 theatre.
ALL THE DIFFERENCE is a play of choices. We meet Flik. Well. Felicity actually. The shortening of her name to make herself happy (get it?) enrages her mother. She’s young when we first meet her . She’s in a boat with her Dad. Dad time is precious.
On the surface Flik looks like pretty much any girl but she has a gift. When choice is involved, when the coin lands on its edge and shows no signs of falling one way or the other, Flik can see what is at the end of both roads. Taken or not taken. As an audience, we don’t have this power but Flik asks us what our choices would be in certain situations. Flik will tell you that there’s no fear because it’s not your life. The mechanism of our choice, a Yes or No sign and majority rules.
This is clever audience participation. Flik is right when she says no fear. We don’t have to put ourselves out there and there is no in-your-face stuff. Plus you get to look around and compare your choices with the rest of the audience. That’s fun.
There is a lot of fun in this show. As played by Kathryn Schuback, the single character is absolutely charming. Big smile and open face, bright eyes and disarmingly candid. Schuback’s Flik is a clear and present character. Warm and rye with an amiability that makes you want to choose the best for her. At one stage, Flik could make a disastrous choice to change her life to help a family member and from my craning around to see, we all said … don’t. But she also manages to inject suitable depth to the effervescent girl we see in front of us.
It’s a many skilled performance. Clear, strong voice and terrific audience engagement and a complex ability to shape the 6 stools which make up the set into an array of places. Not all mime is about the hands and body. Schuback also effectively uses eyeline to create the places we go. Early in the show her creation of the fish and birds that surround her Dad’s boat is stellar. And her emotional response to these early events is well portrayed.
Less convincing was the emotion toward the end of the show. The resolution of that fraught relationship with her mother didn’t hit home for me, it’s not quite in the performer’s body but I can see that it will be by the time you meet Flik.
The other thing that played on my mind after such an enjoyable evening had to do with the script. The show is written by local playwright Paul Gilchrist and the conceit is clever but unfortunately he subverts his own concept.
Flik tells us what would have happened if our choice had been different… a ‘sneaky look’ down the other path. It makes sense that the artist knows because she might have to play it but for Flik to know there must be a feyness which not evident in the character as written. I really wanted the mystery of not knowing.
Still that’s probably me overthinking it. See I told you I know my own stuff but I also learned something about my buddy who came with me to ALL THE DIFFERENCE? He’s a yes-man. Again. Who knew? I’m going to see him differently now. I think we might have seen different shows! But we both really enjoyed them!
ALL THE DIFFERENCE continues at the Old 505 Theatre as part of the Sydney Fringe until the 26th of September.