REVIEW: Considering Whether We Are Ever Beyond Forgiveness And Redemption, MR BAILEY'S MINDER Is An Intimate Exploration Of Broken Families and Damaged People.

Wednesday 2nd August 2023, 8pm, Ensemble Theatre

Debra Oswald’s MR BAILEY’S MINDER has a new resonance in an age when the ‘greats’ are finally held to the same standard as the rest of society and their bad behavior is no longer ignored.  First presented in 2005, this work remains captivating in its exploration of both human frailty and resilience.

The premise of MR BAILEYS MINDER is the aging and ailing acerbic alcoholic Leo Bailey (John Gaden), considered to be a living legend of the Australian art world, is in need of care.  While his eldest daughter and only living relative willing to retain any semblance of contact, Margo (Rachel Gordon), bears too much trauma from her childhood with her narcissistic father to do more much than provide arm’s length care by way of managing his finances, his day to day care has been entrusted to Therese (Claudia Ware), a brash, bold and ‘mouthy twenty-something ex-con who is the only remaining care worker willing to take on the cantankerous old soak.  As Therese figures out how to get through to Leo by way of bargains that convince him to forego the bottles of booze that keep getting delivered from the bottle shop she manages to coax a more human side of Leo out and he finally connects with his shame and regret but Margo remains skeptical that is just another of her father’s charms that will eventually leave a disappointing fallout when he decides he needs the bottle again.  Thrown into the mix are Gavin, an exploitative ‘friend’ from the arts world, and Karl, the building contractor Margo has engaged to salvage Leo’s artwork who keeps coming back to the cliff-house long after the job is done.

Director Damien Ryan has gathered a cast that express honest and real expressions of deeply damaged and flawed people.  He ensures that they are presented so that even with the loudest protestations to the contrary, they are all seen as having some hope of redemption as they realize the impact of their past.  Leading the cast, John Gaden is wonderful as Leo Bailey.  He brings a perfect physicality to the role as he captures the frailty of the artist suffering from multiple medical conditions bought on by his prolonged alcohol abuse and old age and his facial expressions say so much more than words ever could with one look at Margo being enough to define their tortured relationship.  He layers with an ease of dialogue that captures the old man’s hate and distrust of his daughter and skeptical caution around anyone else that he doesn’t know, tempering it when his health and mental clarity turns a corner as he finally refrains from drinking. 

Rachel Gordon and Claudia Ware present the two very different women that each support Leo in their own particular way.  Ryan has ensured that these two are clearly opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of socio economic situation and their relationships with their parents yet they both retain a commonality as damaged women seeking a way forward, both need human connection even if they don’t want to admit it, and both need to heal from the past, whether it be their own decisions or the implications of other people’s actions.  Gordon ensures that Margo is seen as tightly wound, needing to retain control, while maintaining the façade of a corporate powerhouse even though, as she admits to Therese, she’s only wearing the accoutrements of business success because her job as an Investment Banker expects it.  While Margo retains a resentment for the poor parenting provided by her father, Gordon ensures that she is also not perfect which is presented through her judgmental treatment and the disrespect that she shows Therese throughout the story.  Ware allows Therese to subtly shift in character over the course of the 2-hour play, moving from the rough and rude to a gentler and more aware of how to manipulate Leo to want to be better.  She ensures Therese retains a complexity that there is an ability for acceptance that people can change but she still has her limits, and her temper will still flare if she’s disrespected and pushed to her limit. 

Taking on the two peripheral characters of Gavin and Karl, Albert Mwangi has created two distinct characters so that Gavin, an opportunistic art dealer, fades to distant memory when Karl enters the story.  Mwangi gives carpenter and tradesman Karl a playful and positive energy which serves as a counterpoint to the weight that Therese and Margo are bearing.  His physicality as Karl comes to the house to salvage an artwork adds an amusing moment of levity and he ensures that Karl builds an expression of a ‘safe’ and considerate character that has chosen to befriend Leo and keep coming over to help patch up the run-down house.

The house in question is almost another character in this work and Set and Costume designer Soham Apte has created a detailed expression of Leo’s house, an architectural wonder built into the cliff face.  Exposed rockface features against patched timber walls and floorboards with an outcrop forming a feature ‘coffee table’ in the sparsely furnished living room that is a mismatch of decorating ideas, from repurposed ferry door serving as the front door and a damaged stained-glass window draped with a protective cloth.  With the inclusion of witnessing Leo paint on the rear of the door, Margo’s stories of growing up in the house become even more vivid as the connection to the property, particularly Leo’s reluctance to leave his home, become even more clear.

In a world where society is no longer willing to excuse poor behavior from the ‘gifted’ and the ‘great’, MR BAILEY’S MINDER retains a relevance, not just for the shift in holding all people accountable for their behavior, but also for the general understanding of human behavior, family dynamics and the importance of not making assumptions about people.  This is a captivating production that brings four fabulous performers together for a work that rolls through a range of emotions and understandings of the different perspectives on life.

https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/mr-baileys-minder/

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