Colleen McCulloch is one of the more eclectic Australian novelists - starting with this suburban romance, moving onto the epic mad passions of "The Thorn Birds", moving onto a wartime romance in "An Indecent Obsession", the religious-sci-fi meld "A Creed for the Third Millenium" an 8 book series chronicling Roman History around the rise of Julius Caesar into the collapse of Antony and Cleopatra, and five mystery novels. It all began almost 50 years ago with this romantic drama about an older professional woman and her relationship with her gardner, as it grows from a simple friendship to something much more entwining as she begins to be caught up in his life and his potential future.
There's a lot of hotbutton issues here - even more so as Tim McGarry has updated the novel into 2023 - our heroine, once a personal assistant to a mining executive, is now a mining executive, and as issues of caring emerge we get discussions of the NDIS and its possibilities - but it's still fundamentally the same May-December romance where Tim's open, positive nature affects Mary's solid, professional demeanour in ways that take her and us completely by surprise. The messy family dynamic of a group built around caring for one member comes to light as the various members try to help and protect Tim, and it becomes clear how they are not the same thing.
Darren Yap directs with attention foremost on the performances, on building and developing the complex relationships as the characters get more entwined. James Browne's set is surprisingly grand for a touring show, using a large sweeping screen, a wall of foliage and a small revolve to move us around various homes and locations smoothly and beautifully.
Jeanette Cronin has played a great array of tough, strong women, and relishes the chance to play a character gobsmacked by how deeply she's fallen in love, in the most beautiful of ways. Ben Goss as Tim is beautful in his sweet nature and vulnerability, arousing the protective instinct in the entire audience. Valerie Bader is always a great presence and steals every scene she's in as Mary's lusty neighbour, while also bringing warmth as Tim's mother. Andrew McFarlane builds our affection as Tim's dad - his quiet-spoken affection feeling slightly controlling until you realise later in the play how deeply his caring goes. Julia Robertson plays Tim's sister as a character whose protective nature manifests in all the ugliest ways they do within families - it's a brittle character but she lets us see the heart behind the wall. Akkeshy Caplash plays three smaller roles giving them each individual vibes - scoring best, perhaps, as Mary's friend in the caring industry Raj, who's allowed to be a bit more than just an exposition magnet.
This is a very accomplished, beautiful show, largely worth it for the sheer joy of seeing Cronin in a defining role, showing off her warmth and her toughness, and to get involved in a complexly emotional story where things are allowed to be left with a little bit of messiness.
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