A Darling Bud of Maybe
Susan White Florist, 61-63 Taranaki St, Wellington
07/02/2007 - 10/02/2007
Production Details
Devised by Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobson, Ed Watson, Guy Langford, and Melissa Reeve
FULL.STOP.THEATRE
A subject as delicate as a budding flower itself….
A Darling Bud of Maybe is full.stop.theatre company’s debut piece of theatre which explores the issue of abortion through the central character of Lily and her experience of an unplanned pregnancy.
The result of over seven months of group exploration, A Darling Bud of Maybe is described as comic and poignant, beautiful and ludicrous.
“Over time the piece of theatre we have created has become as much about Lily as it has about abortion. Lily’s relationships with various people in her life, her decision making process, the idea of men’s rights, and the very individual and human experience of pregnancy are vital to this show.”
One of the unique and exciting aspects of A Darling Bud of Maybe for its creators is that it is being staged in a real life florist shop – Susan White Florist on Taranaki Street, which will mean limited audience seating and an intimate and dynamic performance space.
“It’s great because while it is set in the very real world of a florist, it is punctuated by moments of hyper-reality that will surprise, shock and delight you – expect the unexpected.”
Current and former Victoria University Theatre students Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobson, Ed Watson, Guy Langford, and Melissa Reeve were inspired by a devising paper in their course to create their own piece of theatre for the 2007 Fringe Festival.
“We wanted to explore the issue of abortion because while it can be very controversial and remains quite a taboo subject, it is something that affects many people and is an undeniable part of the world we live in today.”
Performed by Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobson, Ed Watson, Guy Langford
Theatre ,
1 hir
Theatre of eggs-aggeration
Review by John Smythe 08th Feb 2007
Not so much an issue play as a premise for exploring ways of presenting ‘subjective reality’ theatre, A Darling Bud of Maybe is a credible first outing for full.stop.theatre.
Lily (Alex Lodge), the florist – or does she just work there? – relates to us, the audience, as attractive floral arrangements in her shop. The tone is natural until an over-the-top New Age type wafts in for some aroma therapy and divines that Lily is pregnant, then her allergies get the better of her. The way she plays it all out front and never once makes eye-contact with Lily bodes ill for the hour to come …
But the next visitor, Brian, a wacky loser of a salesman – of Life Dice this week – at least engages with Lily in his realm of heightened reality. Cherie Jacobsen and Edward Watson also play Old Mrs Thompson, a couple of friends and Lily’s parents writ large.
Tim (Guy Langford), the wants-to-be-father of the foetus, is also exaggerated yet exasperatingly limited in character dimension. So if this is the way the otherwise apparently rational and reasonably mature-seeming Lily actually sees the world around her, if she really is unable to see other people as complete human beings – her boyfriend and parents especially – then she definitely is not ready to become a committed partner and mother herself.
I’m not for a moment arguing for a turgid, naturalistic, moral-dilemma drama. It’s just that, as dramatised, what’s missing from Lily’s ‘real life’ dilemma – of whether or not to have the baby – is the true nature and status of her relationship with Tim. Is he ‘the one’? This surely would have a big effect on her decision. Plus if this was her own business, that would be an issue too.
Those concerns aside, the use of the space, props – flowers, balloons, an egg – sound-effects and mime to dramatise ‘reality’, her nightmares and her waking fantasies, is often very well handled. A high spot for me is Lily and Tim’s different takes on what actually happens when their friends come to dinner and react to his announcement of her proposed abortion.
The ending is suitably ambiguous, leaving us to consider what we might do in her position. But again, while Lodge’s Lily comes over as a very real person – humane, scared, strong, vulnerable – the limited insight this show offers on what her position really is in relation to the others, gives us little to play with.
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