OBSERVER: Little Absences
Established cross-disciplinary creative Grazia Marin presents her latest stage play Little Absences from March 18-21 at The Loft, Chapel off Chapel.
Directed by Elnaz Sheshgelani, the story tells of Chris, a keenly intelligent and witty woman in the later years of her life, who is obstinately still living at home, despite the concerns of her daughter, Jenny. But Jenny sees her elderly mother’s vulnerability and addiction – the battle she is not sure Chris is winning.
An exploration of an all-too-common story, the play asks: what do we do, as a society and individually, when our elders become too fragile to look after themselves?
In addition to aiming to create a platform upon which to demonstrate the skills and talents of women artists, especially older women, Grazia Marin also wrote this play to shine a light on the struggles of The Sandwich Generation. Many women, Marin herself included, have experienced, or are currently experiencing, trying to juggle looking after their children, their employment and their aging parents: sandwiched between generations and the needs of others.
“The story line spotlights the character of the elderly, dementing mother who is a repressed poet and an alcoholic. Through the vehicle of her character and her deterioration, the realities of the stresses her daughter faces are highlighted,” said Marin.
This play marks the triumphant return of playwright Grazia Marin (Why Can’t Women Be Like Men?, Waiting for Ice Cream). With a cast led by Janet Watson Kruse and supported by Veronicka Devlin and Piera Denner-stein, Little Absences aims to give voice to those who are all too often invisible: our female elders who have only just begun to live, and their caring children.
Dates: March 18-21. Times: Daily 7:30pm and Saturday 2pm. Venue: The Loft at Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran. Tickets: $25-$50. Bookings: https://chapeloffchapel.com.
au/show/little-absences
Cheryl Threadgold