REVIEW: Belvoir St Theatre's Sydney World Pride 2023 Offering, BLESSED UNION Shows That Relationship Breakdowns In The LGBTIQ+ Community Are Just As Messy As Anyone Else

Sunday 19th February 2023, 5pm, Belvoir St Theatre Surry Hills

Maeve Marsden's (playwright) latest work BLESSED UNION captures the humanity of relationship breakdowns by putting a lesbian family on stage, reinforcing that the dissolution of a marriage is traumatic, regardless of how much the participants try to be better than the (hetero) norm. Presented as part of Sydney World Pride 2023, this work allows the LGBTIQ+ community to see their own stories on stage while also reinforcing to everyone that regardless of the gender of who may make up a relationship, break ups are rarely ever easy.

Bought to life by a quartet of actors under Belvoir St Theatre's Resident Director Hannah Goodwin, this work has a realism as the audience looks in on the living space of Ruth (Danielle Cormack) and Judith's (Maude Davey) suburban home, designed with incredible detail by Isabel Hudson. Starting during Delilah's (Emma Diaz)Easter break from her law studies, the 20-something Anglo-Asian daughter of union activist Ruth and school teacher Judith has returned home for the family tradition of a lamb pie dinner with her mothers and her younger brother Asher (Jasper Lee-Lindsay). At first the biggest disruption to quality family time seems to be likely to come from Asher, a rebellious teen not happy with the choices his mothers, particularly Ruth, have made for him and the family, from politically strategic choice of a Catholic school education, promotion of misandrist language in the household where he is the sole male, and the rejection of commercialization that his peers families ascribe to. The lamb pie is the first of many meals that are prepared and not eaten after Ruth and Judith advise that, after decades and two children together, they have made the mutual decision to separate. While the dissolution of family units is nothing new, because Ruth and Judith feel that their relationship has always been under a microscope of judgement from society, they want to show the world that they can handle the separation in a more amicable manner than the hetero norm but even with the most robust business strategy and colorful arts and crafts wall chart, is this ideal really achievable.

Marsden's dialogue is clever as it paints a picture of Ruth's career driven intensity and Judith's caring pacifying nature and the influence growing up with those personalities has had on their children. The history of the social issues that the pair have had to face as a lesbian couple, including the campaign to achieve marriage equality in Australia, along with the strong feminist values that they live by is made clear in a manner that conveys their depth of passion for these issues while also having a laugh at how far they push the way the practice their values. Marsden utilizes the comedy of repetition to have the issues the ladies plan to address according to the wall chart covered over a series of family meals whenever Delilah can make it home from university.

Without giving away too much, the cast deliver a tight performance and are equally strong. They each ensure that stereotypes are clear while giving each character further depth and detail so that first assumptions require the natural readjustment that comes with getting to know three dimensional characters. They understand the pace of the work to ensure that lines land perfectly and they express the physical comedy brilliantly with a passive aggressive use of a blender being a hilarious piece of farcical humor. They have a fluidity of movement during the scene transitions that take place in low light in contrast to Amelia Lever-Davidson's lighting design for the scenes which subtly shifts the passage of time over the year that the story unfolds.

There has been a big push to have the breadth of Australian stories told on our stages, asking for expression of the diverse communities and this work helps allow LGBTIQ+ families to see characters like them on stage. Through Delilah and Asher, Marsden also allows the Asian Australian child's experience to be shown on stage, reinforcing that while both children physically have traits of the Asian friend that contributed to their creation, they've been raised in a white home. The fact that their mothers, particularly Ruth, claimed not to see color actually ignored that aspect of their being and reflected her work as a union leader that failed to give a decent voice to the people of color that form the bulk of the entry level service jobs. Regardless of orientation, BLESSED UNION holds a message for everyone as we keep working towards a world that is more accepting and less divisive and can hopefully see people as humans, removing the prejudices and roadblocks society imposes due to gender, sexuality, race or religion.

https://belvoir.com.au/productions/blessed-union/

Photos: Brett Boardman

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