Gryphon Theatre hosts the World Premiere of the new play from Danny Eastman, who takes the opportunity to direct his own work. Whether the play takes its inspiration from a specific real event is unclear, but it examines an interesting question. What would happen if you found out your identity was not your own?

The show publicity seems carefully worded to hide the reason for the question. However, the reveal is made within the first few minutes and is easily guessed as the play starts. I don’t see it as a spoiler by discussing it and then I can bring up one of the few dissatisfactory elements of the play.

We discover in those initial moments that 13 year-old Serena was abducted from her biological mother as a baby and raised by a new family. All she knows of herself is based on the life she has lead with her assumed family.

It seemed to me that the admission comes too easily. At 13, Serena would surely have asked about her baby years before. Yet one simple question is enough to push pseudo-mum Diane into a confession. I would prefer to see something trigger Diane’s breakdown; perhaps the discovery of a kept newspaper-cutting leading to awkward questions?

It is a forgivable fault – the point of the play is to explore what happens after the truth comes out and not the manner in which a secret is spilt after so many years. My other complaint is the way the play is tied up at the end, with Serena delivering an unnecessary announcement that adds nothing to the story.

Sophia Savage plays Serena with confidence and skill. At times, she seems unduly bemused, sporting an enigmatic smile during her moments of exposition. However, this is the twenty-something year-old Serena looking back at events of a decade earlier, so perhaps time has afforded her a new perspective.

The standout performer is Jo Crilly as Diane. Technically, she’s the villain of the piece. As we see the events that lead up to the abduction and the love she genuinely has for "her" daughter, Diane wins our sympathy more than biological mother Linda. Diane’s partner, excellently played by Dave Allen, is also given a more sympathetic airing than Linda.

The play focuses on Diane and Serena. We have little opportunity to experience the impact on Linda and the father is completely absent. Mary Beth Hawkins does well in her few moments to convey Linda’s loss. When we witness the reunion between Serena and Linda, each performer delivers directly to the audience. This reinforces the sense of separation between mother and daughter, and the hesitancy they feel towards each other.

The play is set in America and the entire cast are required to use American accents. I’m no expert on accents, but I could not detect any wavering and I left convinced that most of the cast were speaking in their natural voice. Only Lizzy, Serena’s childhood friend, is played as a Kiwi and I suspect this was a necessity of casting. The play could as easily been re-set in New Zealand to avoid accent issues, though this did make me wonder whether a specific real-life event was being portrayed.

It’s a simple play with a powerful idea. Examining the situation more from the perspective of Diane than Linda provides an interesting angle. It’s the angle in which the conflict exists. For the real mother, it’s a single-sided experience: loss. Diane is balancing both love and guilt, with Serena experiencing mixed emotions between what she feels and what she knows. Those are good ingredients and Eastman does not disappoint with his use of them.

On the evening I attended, the cast outnumbered the audience. Presumably, it has been lost in the voluminous content of this year’s Fringe and International Arts Festival. Perhaps the show’s publicity material has been a little too coy about its topic and failed to sell the fascinating conflict that it presents. I hope it has the chance to redress that in a later run.
  

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The Serena deserves a much bigger audience than the six who attended opening night.  Under the assured direction of writer/director Danny Eastman for the Anduin Theatre Company (UK) – it’s always a good start for a show to have a director – the strong cast of The Serena Syndrome bring Eastman’s play to the stage with a simplicity and honesty that, although not overly dynamic, is nevertheless engaging and thought provoking. 

In the mould of an American TV soapy that at times verges on the melodramatic with the numerous scene changes often breaking the dramatic tension, it tells the story of thirteen year old Serena, told from when she is twenty years old: how a dramatic event on the eve of her thirteenth birthday changes her life; how following this she must start to put the pieces of her life back together and discover who she really is.

In the title role of Serena, Sophia Savage is excellent, showing both the precociousness and vulnerability of a young girl dealing with issues most adults would have difficulty dealing with.  And while most Fringe Festival shows are fascinating and exciting pieces of theatre, though not always able to be comprehended, it is still good to occasionally sit through a conventional play that is well written and presented which The Serena Syndrome is.

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