Alana’s Score: 3.5 stars
Sydney-born Julia Leigh’s 2016 memoir Avalanche: A Love Story details the painful, devastating, expensive, rigorous and tolling experience of trying to conceive a child through IVF. Its stage adaptation of the same name premiered at London’s Barbican Centre in April this year as part of Fertility Fest, the world’s first arts festival dedicated to the science of conception and reproduction.
For this Australian premiere, in a co-production with Sydney Theatre Company, Maxine Peake is reprising her role as Woman, in her late 30’s and desperate for a child.
Leigh’s compelling piece of writing is brought to life by director Anne-Louise Sarks, alongside dramaturgs Penny Black and Kirsty Housley. And, of course, by a beautiful performance from Peake.
Woman’s journey is delicately but unrestrainedly explored, from finding love in her late 30’s to horrendous IVF treatments and tense doctor’s visits and everything in between. Woman is inspired by Leigh’s own experience with IVF and fleshed out by what Peake brings to the role (Peake has spoken candidly about her own IVF journey).
Peake displays staggering honesty and vulnerability in this sensitive, compelling performance. She imbues Woman with a beautiful warmth and quiet strength, maintaining the tension and keeping us with her as her life creeps towards an impending and inevitable avalanche. Peake is precise without being clinical, complex without churning, restrained without stiffness. A true master of storytelling.
On the surface, Avalanche is an exploration of the physical and mental struggles that a desperately childless woman will go through to change her life. But peel back the layers, listen to the beautiful script, and you’ll recognise many moments of universality. At one point Woman is called selfish for delaying her treatments in light of a big film project. In another, her family says she’s too self-involved to be a parent. Just a couple of examples of the ways in which other people continue to so easily pass judgements on a woman’s body and life choices. Even if you’re a woman who doesn’t want kids, you’re bound to relate to that.
The other interesting element in the show is the fairly strong intimation that the fertility industry benefits from the tens of thousands of dollars these women spend on freezing eggs and undergoing treatment, again and again and again. And why do they do this? Because, according to Avalanche, the more these vulnerable, desperate women spend the more the doctors benefit. “You’ll want to know you did everything you could,” they say. “It’s up to you,” they repeat, without ever giving solid answers. Eventually, Woman sees a Bentley in the ‘Medical Practitioners Only’ parking space outside…
The fabulous set by Marg Horwell seems like a clinical white box at first, but has many subtle secrets waiting to be enjoyed. It echoes perfectly the tension and journey of the script without pulling focus.
It is important to acknowledge that this play may be polarising to some people, given the level of wealth and privilege needed to be able to afford extensive procedures as detailed in the play. However, I don’t think this should stop this production from being enjoyed for what it is – a fantastic piece of storytelling.
Playing at Roslyn Packer Theatre until September 14.
Alana Kaye – Theatre Now
Avalanche Production Photos Barbican Centre ©The Other Richard
29 Aug – 14 Sep 2019
Venue: STC: Roslyn Packer Theatre
Theatre Company: Julia Leigh
Duration: Aprox: 1hr 30 min (no interval)
Mon – Thu performances
Adult A Reserve $103
Adult B Reserve $93
Seniors cardholder $93
Concession $82
Under 30 $81
Fri & Sat performances
A Reserve tickets $108
B Reserve tickets $98
Preview performances
All tickets $81
Preview performances 7.30pm
In-season evening performances Mon & Tue 6.30pm; Wed – Sat 7.30pm
Matinee performances Wed 1pm; Sat 1.30pm
By Julia Leigh
Direct from London, Avalanche: A Love Story stars acclaimed British actor Maxine Peake in a compelling story of hope and longing.
When a woman rekindles an early love in her late 30s her whole life changes. Deeply in love, she and her new husband want to have a child together and they make an appointment at an IVF clinic. So begins this story, inspired by the writer Julia Leigh’s own personal memoir.
This international co-production with the Barbican Theatre was praised as “a must-hear story for our times” (Go London) on its UK premiere. It lays bare the daily oscillation between hope and doubt in a drama we can all relate to – about the dreams we have for ourselves, the hopes we have for our futures, and the goals we have for our families.
Acclaimed for her “capacity for emotional directness and a fierce, uncensored honesty” (The Guardian), Maxine Peake is a prolific theatre, television and film actor. Australian audiences will know her from her astounding range of work, including Netflix’s Black Mirror, cult favourite TV show Shameless, and an extensive list of BBC dramas. Sydney-born director Anne-Louise Sarks has been making waves in Europe and this production brings her back to her hometown for her first work with STC.
See why these are artists at the top of their game, sharing a raw and insightful look at a universal tale.
Avalanche: A Love Story is a Barbican Theatre and Fertility Fest production, co-produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Audible.
Director Anne-Louise Sarks
Designer Marg Horwell
Lighting Designer Lizzie Powell
Composer and Sound Designer Stefan Gregory
Dramaturgy Kirsty Housley and Penny Black
Sound Associate Peter Rice
Cast
Maxine Peake with Kaan Guldur, Jethro Jensen, Hannah Sistrom and Amy Wahhab
Photography Credit: Pip
