Ensemble Theatre, June 23
6.5/10
“There’s a great liberty in being bad,” Sharon tells us, with all the zeal of the reformed do-gooder. She’s only come to mischief in her mid-50s, having “retired” from her marriage (preceded by her husband), and advertised for a housemate – or “roommate”.
Sharon (Lucy Bell) lives in Iowa City, where her main excitement is a book club, which one member insists they call a “reading group”. The only alternative occupation is badgering her fashion-designer son in New York, which is tiresome for him, and a stream of minor wounds to the heart for her.
Enter Robyn (Belinda Bromilow), also in her 50s, but having arrived there via a winding path. She’s says she’s from the Bronx, and her accent suggests we can believe that much. All other background “facts” about Robyn rather swim in and out of focus – even her name.
Directed by Lee Lewis, this was the Australian premiere of US playwright Jen Silverman’s 2015 play, which may well be unique as a two-hander for middle-aged women. At first, I thought Bell’s acting was going to be too busy by comparison with Bromilow’s easy understatement. But that was to misunderstand that, like many underemployed people, Sharon is frantically doing very little with her life. So what initially seems a rather technical performance comes to be more intricate than busy. It’s the more complex of the roles, too, as it is Sharon’s whose life changes from drudgery to adrenaline.
As she and her boxes move in, we swiftly learn what Robyn’s left behind: animal products, alcohol, pottery, slam poetry and heterosexuality. With more time, we learn there’s a grown-up daughter, and a background in crime. Nothing too serious: just phone scams, car theft and drug dealing, and she’s left all that behind, too – or it’s perhaps more like the regular cigarettes she says she’s quit. Bromilow is exceptional at playing this detached, intelligent drifter, with a moral compass that’s been adversely affected by the magnetic field of money.
What Robyn didn’t expect is that nosy Sharon would be excited rather than disapproving when she learns of these illicit activities. Indeed, she instantly embarks on phone-scam lessons, before sucking in a “friend” on her first attempt. Having muddied her toes, there’s no stopping her – short of car theft.
But this is where the play sags somewhat. Despite Bell’s best efforts, and for all the wonder of watching a butterfly break out of its chrysalis, I remained unconvinced that Sharon would so quickly go over to the dark side. Even though she primarily does it for the thrills rather than the loot, one suspects that this woman – who’d never so much as smoked a joint, and thinks that having once kissed a girl in college the pinnacle of audacity – would need time to process completely inverting her moral code. I don’t believe she could sweep aside her past so lightly.
Until July 25.
https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/the-roommate/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Bromilow