There is something deeply intimate about a play with a single actor and Auckland Theatre Company’s Girls and Boys by David Kelly is about as intimate as it gets.
It’s the self-told story of an unnamed woman (Beatriz Romilly) who shares personal anecdotes from her past with biting wit and vivid descriptions of people and situations.
While she acknowledges this is ‘her side of the story’ she is willing to offer up achingly honest confessions of her own behaviours and misdeeds.
And those misdeeds are incredibly funny as she describes in explicit detail the hedonistic life she lived in her twenties, full of parties, drugs and plenty of sex.
After one particularly gross sexual encounter which is recounted with unabashed and almost indecent frankness, she knew things had to change. Quitting her job she went off to Europe and there, met husband to be.
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The early days of her marriage were idyllic. Madly in love, the sex was hot, and both developed fulfilling and burgeoning careers.
Until that is, she got pregnant.
After two children, Leanne and Danny, things changed and following the collapse of her husband’s self-made business things take a much darker and tragic turn.
Beatriz Romilly is simply dazzling. Her’s is a performance replete with brilliant comedic touches, agonising grief and astonishing self-reflection. Her exquisite talent shone so brightly it felt as though I had known this woman all my life.
This is a well made production with a beautifully simple yet versatile set and a lighting and a soundscape that perfectly matched the tone of each moment.
Given the graphic nature of the content there is a advisory warning for this play which some might find off-putting. I understand why, but I can’t agree.
It isn’t suitable for children for sure, but one of the purposes of theatre is to be provocative, sometimes we need to be shaken to the core and jolted out of our complacency and we should be shocked and appalled by things that happen in our society.
There are many many theatre productions, and even more on TV and on the big screen which deal with the same issues but with far more graphic and visual detail. Perhaps with this show it is the extraordinary delivery and relatability the actress portraying the leading lady (and all the others overseas who have played her), that makes it so visceral.
But this play is so much more than a tragedy, it is truly one of the most masterful stage portrayals I have seen.
Girls and Boys is at times devastating, but to miss out on this impeccably performed, fascinatingly layered piece of theatre that superbly mixes humour and grief would be a tragedy.
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Photo Credit – Jinki Cambronero
GIRLS AND BOYS
By Dennis Kelly
September 10 – 22
ASB Waterfront Theatre
Duration: 1 hour and 50 mins
