Adapted by Sue Smith, from the novel by Charlotte Wood. Belvoir Street Theatre. Director Sarah Goodes. 5 Aug – 3 September, 2023.

Reviewed : 10 August, 2023

Adele, Wendy, Jude and Sylvie have been friends for years. They always spend Christmas together at Sylvie’s beach house. But this Christmas is different. Sylvie has died, and her three friends have come to pack up the beach house – and all the memories it holds

Toni Scanlan  (Jude), Melita Jurisic (Wendy) and Belinda Giblin (Adele) work closely together in this adaptation about the ties that bind … and test … long friendships. Adaptor Sue Smith describes Charlotte Woods’ novel as “A story of three smart, funny, political women negotiating the past, the future, work, love, money, death –and each other.”

Jude, who ran a top-class restaurant, has taken charge of the weekend, and is determined to get the job done rather than reminisce. Wendy, a celebrated academic, has brought her aging dog Finn, much to Jude’s disgust. Adele, a once-well-known actress, is out of work – but is determined to bring some cheer to the weekend.

All three are feeling the heat, and their age, and the uncertainty of the future. But they are strong women. Determined. Resilient. They’ve seen a lot of life and sustained the vagaries the years have dealt them. Age is just another thing they are facing together.

Designer Stephen Curtis uses the full stage to create the beach house. A circular wooden floor, a slatted walkway, a backdrop that shimmers at times with images of light shining through eucalypts. It’s a space where the women feel at home; where the old dog can step carefully, his nails tapping gently as he finds a spot to sit … and, with puppeteer Keila Terencio, watch and listen.

The dog and Terencio are intrinsic to the production. Sue Smith sees them as revealing another dimension: “the instinctive, the ineffable, the unknowable, the mysterious “… things that can’t be explained despite age and experience and apparent wisdom. As a dog owner it was hard not to identify with Wendy and her dependence on Finn; nor to appreciate the “life” Terencio, with puppetry and movement director Alice Osborne, injected into Finn’s movements – even his slow breaths when he was resting.

Scanlan, Jurisic and Giblin bring a wealth of experience and insight to their performances. They find the layers Wood and Smith have written into their characters and understand how they have had to negotiate life in a society that underrates the value and wisdom of those who are older, especially women.

Scanlan gives Jude the acumen needed to run a busy, popular restaurant. The Jude she plays has good judgement, makes considered decisions – and sticks by them. She is tolerant – to a degree – but is resolute. She holds herself tightly, always a little remote, contained. She takes part in some of the banter and recollecting – but always seems to hold back a little. Protecting herself perhaps … but from what?

The Wendy Jurisic portrays is a woman of intellect and intelligence, dogged just a little by the aches and pains of aging … and the hurt of loss. She plays her as a thinker, who is also understanding and perceptive. She knows her friends, reads behind their words and faces, helps when she is needed – but doesn’t always know how to help herself.

The relationship Jurisic establishes with Finn, a present from her late husband, is telling. She relies on his constancy. He is her confidant, he fills some of the spaces in her life – something Jude cannot understand.

Adele, however, understands completely. It’s part of her sensitive nature, her ability to empathise, her bubbliness – a bubbliness that she uses to cover the diminishing sense of self-worth that beleaguers actors as they age, and parts becomes scarce, and savings dwindle. Giblin finds all of this in a vibrancy that is infectious but brittle; an energy that is compelling but fragile; a brightness that doesn’t quire reach her eyes. A brightness however that lightens the present situation – and much of the past.

Roman Delo plays Joe Gillespie, a young director, whom Adele invites for Christmas – much to the concern of the others.  He tries Jude’s tolerance a little too far and she sees him off very effectively! It is a small role, but Delo gives it truth.

This is a very moving production which Sarah Goodes has directed with a wise and gentle hand, realising the strengths and skills of her cast and the insights they would bring to their characters. She has accented the warmth and humour Smith has injected into the dialogue, and emphasised the tender ties between the women with some delicate blocking and carefully timed pauses.

This is a play that women will love – as will the people who love them and put up with their humour and hubris as they (we) deal with growing old. It’s an adaptation that fans of Charlotte Wood will love, of which Wood herself has said:

“Watching the development of this play has been one of the great joys of my career. I could not have asked for a more brilliant combination of writer, director, actors and production people to bring my book to the stage.”

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine