#383: My Sister Jill (MTC Melbourne, Australia) (review)

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Before the promise welcome to theater first
with Alex First. Their father was big

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and strong. It could be fun, but more often than not he was

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scary, angry, brutal and dogmatty. He couldn't land a job and so

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money was always tight. He drank. After surviving World War Two, which

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included being shipwreck and a prisoner of
war on the Thai Burma railway, he

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had ptsd His wife, their mother
stood by him constantly pointing to what he'd

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been through, even though she too
was treated badly. This is the story

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of jack Ian Bliss, Martha maud
Davy, and their five children. Jill

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Lucy Golloby was the oldest, while
Johnny James O'Connell was the senior of the

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three boys. Twins Mouse Zachary Pid
and Doaw Benjamin Nichol were the other two

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lads. And then there was the
youngest member of the family, Christine Angory.

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Rice Academically gifted and said confident.
Jill always knew her father for what

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he was. She even tried to
convince her mother to leave him. Johnny

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quickly became Dad's whipping boy. He
was always looking to catch out Johnny and

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belittle him. He couldn't tell the
twins who were inseparable, much to his

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chagrin. Apart, youngster Christine often
leaped to his defense, even though his

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behavior was frequently volatile and deplorable.
She liked hearing his evocative war stories.

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My Sister Jill, written by Patricia
Cornelius and directed by Susie d is a

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family saga examining the unrelenting legacy of
war. The pair has worked together a

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lot. They constantly challenge one another
as they explore class and gender, shedding

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light on ordinary people facing life's hardships. They're fearless and pose questions many have

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been too uncomfortable to tackle. My
Sister Jill, which has been adapted from

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Cornelius's own novel, fits the mold. It's part autobiographical, although the acclaimed

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playwright and novelist has taken significant creative
liberties with the story. It captures the

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spirit and struggle of a generation of
Australian's post Second World War. Although compelling,

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it's not an easy watch, nor
should it be. The subject matter

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and its treatments see to that pain
and fear a constance. The play has

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been superbly written, directed and performed
Cornelius's gritty workers really graced the stages of

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major theater companies. More's the pity
in this case, though, credit goes

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to MTC, which supported and championed
the creation of My Sister Jill through its

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Next Stage Writers program. The piece
is peppered with explosions and meltdowns, with

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us the audience, waiting for the
inevitable next eruption. This is theater on

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a knife's edge. Ian Bliss ensures
that Jack is realized as a ticking time

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bomb. He's ferocious and frightening and
on occasion's vulnerable and sinking. As Jill,

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Lucy Golloby knows only one way,
fighting fire with fire, she doesn't

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back away, and the consequences are
dramatic. Angory Rice is equally mighty as

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the young family enthusiast cum narrator Christine, who prefers the glossy picture. Benjamin

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Nichol excels as the deeply needy Door, while Zachary Pid's metamorphosis as Mouse is

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impressive. James O'Connell grows in stature
from the disparaged and downtrodden Johnny as the

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plot unfolds. More Davy portrays the
stoic wife Martha who's put up with so

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much and is forever tested with conviction. Mark Howe's set consists of the outline

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of Rundown Home along with an authentic
nineteen fifty three fex Holden. The latter

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had seen better days when purchased by
MTC, but was fixed up and sprayed

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light green by the talented production team. Powell is also responsible for the costuming,

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with much fun to be had Dressing
adults as children of the nineteen fifties

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with lighting by Rachel Burke and composition
and sound from Kelly Ryle. My sister

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Jill leaves an indelible footprint. Its
emotional resonance is striking. It's playing at

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Southbank Theater the Sumner in Melbourne until
the twenty eighth of October twenty twenty three.

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