THEATRE
Written by Tee O’Neill
La Mama Theatre virtual season 23 March to 6 April 2022
Reviewer:
Kate Herbert, reviewed 27 March 2022
Stars: ***
This review is published only on this blog. KH
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Yellingbo, by Tee O’Neill, begins as a simple snapshot of middle-aged couple, Kay (Fiona Macleod) and Danny (Jeremy Stanford), who are trying to have a baby. However, when Danny’s former girlfriend, Cat (Jude Beaumont), arrives unexpectedly, all of their lives are turned upside down.
Coincidentally it seems, both women have the same birth name of Catherine Kelly. However, the reason for this is revealed when Danny is out of the room. The women’s urgent and fraught conversation unravels their shared, secret past and it becomes clear that Danny is married to a fraud – a well-meaning and probably harmless fraud, but a fraud, nonetheless.
Their secret is revealed early in the play, so it is not a huge spoiler to say that Cat (Catherine number one) handed her Australian identity to Kaye (Catherine number two), an Eastern European refugee whose real name is Bushra, who was then able to escape detention. Meanwhile, Cat now has Irish citizenship which allows her only a 12 week visit in Australia and disallows her Medicare coverage for her serious, unnamed illness.
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| L-R: Jude Beaumont, Fiona Macleod, pic Darren Gill |
Kaye is determined to maintain her secret identity and her successful marriage to Danny, but Cat wants her own identity back. Cat thinks of it as a rescue.
O’Neill’s script explores not only the complexity of a love triangle against the background of Australia’s asylum seekers. With the current invasion of Ukraine, Eastern European refugees are a hot topic and the treatment of refugees has become more visible.
The three talented performers, directed by Karen Berger, immerse themselves in the relationships and give the script life, instilling it with dramatic energy and emotion.
However, although the plot has potential for a dramatisation, the dialogue is sometimes awkward, over-wrought or explicatory and the characters and relationships can feel contrived. The complexity of the issue of the politics of refugees becomes entangled in a murky argument about ethics and altruism.
Despite its shortcomings, Yellingbo is a challenging story about refugee politics and complicated love in Australia.
By Kate Herbert
Cast
Jude Beaumont - Cat
Fiona Macleod - Kaye/Bushra
Jeremy Stanford -Danny
Directed by Karen Berger
Lights by Gina Gascoigne
Sound by David Joseph
Production Manager Alan Jager
Stage Manager/Operator Erica Moffat
Publicity Fiona Macleod
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| L-R: Jeremy Stanford, Jude Beaumont,pic Darren Gill |
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