THEATRE ONLINE
Written by Emma Gibson
At La Mama On Screen only, until 29 Oct 2024
https://watch.lamama.com.au/programs/after_rebecca?category_id=223063
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***1/2
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 19 Oct 2024. KH
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| After_Rebecca_Michelle Cooper-image by Darren_Gill |
After Rebecca is a solo, self-narrated piece that effectively translates Daphne du Maurier’s gothic novel, Rebecca, into a contemporary context.
The content is challenging: a naïve and under-confident, single, young production assistant on the reality show, The Farmer Wants a Wife, is swept off her feet by a handsome contestant and whisked away from the show, her job and her life to his remote and enormous farm.
Soon after arriving at his property, she realises to her astonishment and eventual horror, that she is a virtual prisoner, isolated and controlled by a man who still mourns his dead wife.
Performer, Michelle Cooper, captures the creeping sense of foreboding that follows the woman’s initial, romantic infatuation. This glamorous man, Max, treats her with physical and emotional cruelty and she is unable to escape his coercive control.
Emma Gibson’s script is a clever reworking of Rebecca, and its self-narration allows the audience to conjure the locations and characters from prose that is dotted with some dialogue.
Cooper hits her stride in the later, more dangerous section of the story but, initially, the nervous giggle that she employs to express the woman’s anxiety and uncertainty, becomes repetitive and distracting.
The message is clear: look before you leap! Glamorous strangers can take you up a perilous path - and leave you there!
By Kate Herbert.
Written and co-directed by Emma Gibson
Performed and co-directed by Michelle Cooper
Designed by Daniel McCusker
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