Utility

by Emily Schwend

seen at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, on 28 June 2018

Caitlin McLeod directs Robyn Addison as Amber, Robert Lonsdale as her husband Chris, Matt Sutton as her brother-in-law Jim and Jackie Clune as her mother Laura, with the set, a detailed recreation of an unpretentious kitchen in an East Texas house, designed by Max Johns.

The play shows us mother-of-three Amber agreeing warily to the return of Chris to her life, and the stress she is under managing two jobs and three children with a man who means well but who lives somewhat chaotically. The bulk of the action covers a couple of days in which she is preparing for a party to celebrate her daughter's eighth birthday (the girl is evidently not Chris's, but he is devoted to her) and managing the party itself in a heatwave during which their electricity is cut off due to the non-payment of the bill. Chris had forgotten to pay the previous month's minimum tariff (he had spent the money on an indulgent present for his stepdaughter), and they now face having to pay the entire bill before they can revert to paying the minimum.

This sounds like a recipe for gloom and disaster, but the Emily Schwend has resisted the temptation to over-dramatise. Instead, we see something of the daily grind of a family existing on the edge of financial security, but the characters are still resilient. There are tensions and disappointments, but they are not leading to a spiral of recrimination and despair, but rather to a weary acceptance that life is a struggle. Amber bemoans the loss of 'the person she used to be' but does not propose to abandon her responsibilities in a self-indulgent search to regain her younger self. Even though she can see that Chris has no similar experience of life dragging him down - he will always be the optimistic character living in the moment - she barely resents him for it.

It is difficult to stage the unspectacular - particularly with so many plays choosing to highlight dramatic emotional turmoil - but this production succeeds brilliantly. Robyn Addison's performance in particular is full of nuanced expressions of dismay, forbearance and wry acceptance, mixed with entirely believable flare-ups of temper which she banks down again in order to get on with the consequences of her precarious situation. She is ably supported by the rest of the cast. Jackie Clune portrays a mother who combines her too intrusive opinions with an apparent wish to help constantly stymied by a firm desire not to pitch in properly - wonderfully expressed by offering to help with a domestic task, but expecting her daughter to get all the necessary equipment ready for her. The two brothers Chris and Jim are a nice contrast - Jim evidently more dependable and probably with a soft spot for Amber, but Chris the boy and man Amber has fallen for. 

It's really refreshing to see a play not reliant on pyrotechnics, and to see ordinary lives played with such quiet authority by all concerned.