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Sophie McCrae’s one woman show A FEW THINGS HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO NOW has come up from Melbourne for the Sydney Fringe Festival after a successful season in June at Melbourne’s inner city avant garde venue, The Butterfly Club.
This time the venue is The Spare Room within Erskineville Town Hall. The venue is appropriately named. It is a smallish room, converted into a theatre, fitting about ten or so people with a tiny stage are. There were a few props including a light, a chair, and a keyboard. It all made for a very intimate performance.
McCrae plays Annie, a twenties something woman. The play starts with an attention grabbing scene. She comes on stage and throws her handbag on the floor and pulls out her pregnancy test result. She is negative.
Annie’s journey in the play. Will she find a love that isn’t meant to hurt, to find love that is meant to feel good, after all?
Whilst she is on ‘the road’, she has random sexual encounters, brief interludes, which are satisfying for what they are.
Then there is Freddy, sure, reliable, a constant in her life. Is he the one she will settle for, find her peace with?
Annie stands centre stage a few times during the performance and hugs her body. Is this her protecting her body, her self, against the vicissitudes of life?
At one point, feeling blue, she goes over to the keyboard, tinkles away at a few keys, and then comes up with a melody.
Mostly though, Annie is darting back and forth, and expressing, in a rapid fire way, what is going on for her.
Sophie McCrae gives a compelling, exciting performance. Kudos to her for devising a one woman show, and giving herself a role to perform and showcase her talent.
For me, her nimbleness with writing is not on the same level. The script’s scattergun approach, and an ending that just seemed to taper off, felt unsatisfying.
The show was well directed and designed by Gaden Sousa who also operated the bio box.
A FEW THINGS HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO NOW is playing the Spare Room at Erskineville Town Hall, 104 Erskineville Road Erskineville nightly at 6.30pm until Saturday 24th September 2022. The show will be presented again at the upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival.
https://sydneyfringe.com/events/a-few-things-that-happened-on-the-way-to-now/
Production photography by Lucy Searle
