July 6, 2006
\nMurray Bramwell<\/p>\n
Unspoken
\nWritten and performed by Rebecca Clark
\nVitalstatistix and Performing Lines<\/p>\n
Waterside, 11 Nile Street, Port Adelaide
\nJuly 5. Tickets $ 15 – 20. Bookings : 8447 6211
\nUntil July 8.
\nTower Theatre CUB Malthouse, Melbourne July 11-22
\nThe Loft, QUT (Brisbane Festival) July 26 \u2013August 5
\n(Bookings: QUT Gardens Theatre – (07) 3864 4455. Tickets: $18 -28.
\nMackay Entertainment Centre, Mackay. Aug 8 -9
\nRiverway Arts Centre, Thuringowa August 11-12
\nGladstone Playhouse, Entertainment Centre, Gladstone August 16
\nWalter Reid Cultural Centre, Rockhampton August 18 -19
\nSeymour Theatre, Sydney. August 30 \u2013 16 September
\nRiverside Theatre, Parramatta. September 20-23<\/p>\n
Rebecca Clarke\u2019s Unspoken has had a very good word-of-mouth since it opened at Sydney\u2019s Old Fitzroy Theatre in April last year. It attracted a Best Independent Production and Best Newcomer gong at the 2005 Sydney Theatre Awards and, now, Vitalstatistix in Adelaide is hosting the first leg of a national tour (sponsored by Performing Lines) which will take this exceptional debut performance to major centres and those parts of Central Queensland where Clarke\u2019s intriguing and imaginatively constructed narrative begins.<\/p>\n
In her program comments Rebecca Clarke is at pains to emphasise that her story is not autobiographical, but certain events undoubtedly pertain to her own life. As its title suggests, Unspoken is a disclosure, a declaration of things unsaid \u2013 and some things never to be said. There is nothing sensational in this lapse of discretion, only the kind of candour that leads to better understanding. Clarke\u2019s story, told with crisp and admirably elliptical precision, describes the birth of her brother Julian, a late addition to a family, hitherto with an only child \u2013 Rebecca, aged fifteen. Julian\u2019s profound birth defects leave him unable to walk and talk, entirely dependent on his parents and consuming their attention.<\/p>\n
In Unspoken, Clarke entwines her account of feelings of resentment, frustration and apprehension at the arrival of such a complex sibling, with her own breakout into late adolescence at university and her first full-strength love affair with a fellow student she calls the Clown. Guided by original director Wayne Blair, and now, tour director Teresa Bell, this potentially mawkish material is turned into a highly memorable production.<\/p>\n
With a stage set, by Genevieve Dugard, consisting of a slightly elevated wooden boardwalk and a half-raised boat sail, Clarke inhabits the stage with an energy and directness that is as believable as it is disarming. Her voice echoing against the cavernous and peeling walls of the Waterside theatre, Rebecca Clarke makes turbulent feelings vivid and coherent as she darts from one signal event to another \u2013 the alarming realisation as her brother is born, the sight of him tiny and vulnerable in her bath, her first day at uni \u2013 \u201cscoping the lawn for dreamboats\u201d, the first sexual experience. Then, also, disappointment in love, her text is tautly, urgently phrased \u2013 \u201cI whisper hard into his heart\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Unspoken, Rebecca Clarke whispers hard from her own heart, but it is not cloying or manipulative. To use one of her own nautical metaphors, she reports a voyage which pushes her to the margins of her family, to young adulthood, to Europe, and then charts her return. She says in her notes that she is particularly fond of the poetic. It shouldn\u2019t go without saying that Unspoken is exactly that. <\/p>\n
The Australian, July 7, 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
July 6, 2006 Murray Bramwell Unspoken Written and performed by Rebecca Clark Vitalstatistix and Performing Lines Waterside, 11 Nile Street, Port Adelaide July 5. Tickets $ 15 – 20. Bookings : 8447 6211 Until July 8. Tower Theatre CUB Malthouse, Melbourne July 11-22 The Loft, QUT (Brisbane Festival) July 26 \u2013August 5 (Bookings: QUT Gardens Theatre – (07) 3864 4455. Tickets: $18 -28. Mackay Entertainment Centre, Mackay. Aug 8 -9 Riverway Arts Centre, Thuringowa August 11-12 Gladstone Playhouse, Entertainment Centre, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,16,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-australian-texts","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}