The Almighty Sometimes, Q the Locals and On The Ledge, The Q, 19-22 Nov

 

(Image by Photox)

Kendall Feaver's 2018 debut play is still impressive, seven years after it's debut - looking at a mother-daughter relationship at that awkward point where adolescence phases into adulthood and a girl with a long-term mental illness begins to explore who she really is, going off her medications delivering results that are startling and moving. I loved it on its initial production, and a lot of this production services the play well. Though it's inevitable that comparing a production directed by a master of the form and one by an emerging artist, hiccups will emerge, mostly the play is illuminated well. 

A prime hiccup is the venue - the main stage of the Q is a very much bigger space than the intimate stage of the Stables, and requires a different approach. Caitlin Baker's design of hanging scrolls of paper is visually very impressive but in an air conditioned theatre the scrolls tend to crinkle in ways that upstage the actors - and the design doesn't serve to bring in the playing space the way that, for instance, the design for "God of Carnage" or a number of other shows in the venue have brought-in and focussed the action - instead it's all very grand and imposing  in ways that don't entirely serve a play with four actors where no more than three of them ever share a scene.

The four performers are the production's real strength -  Winsome Oglvie as the 18 year old at the centre of the story is fearless, strong and vulnerable, reckless, yearning and absorbing as she struggles to find her sense of self outside of her disease. Elaine Noon as her mother is similarly fearless, compassionate, desperate, seeking to find where she fits into her daughter's new world and fearing that maybe she doesn't. Steph Roberts as the counsellor combines compassion with professional distance as she seeks to transition her patient into adult care. Robert Kjellgren as Anna's possible boyfriend marks the awkwardness as he engages with mother-and-daughter while struggling with his own emerging sense of self and his history of caregiving.

Marlene Radice's compositions underscore the action gently and carefully - it's a good subtle backbeat underpinning the show.

This is a strong powerful relevnant play given a production that is very much carried by its performers but is let down by a space and design that is a little too big for it.