The Rise and Fall of Little Voice





THE RISE AND FALL OF LIITLE VOICE
ETERNITY PLAYHOUSE FEBRUARY 2019
The current show at the Eternity Playhouse is Jim Cartwright’s THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE as directed by Shaun Rennie. It is a dark , searing production with stellar performances. Deeply grieving and troubled by her father’s death , Little Voice secludes herself away in her bedroom surrounded by her late fathers’ treasured record collection of the great 20th century divas such as Marilyn Monroe , Shirley Bassey ,Judy Garland and Edith Piaf. She escapes into the glamorous world of the divas to escape the house dominated by her boozy, brassy mother Mari.LV could be a famous performer, filling concert halls but she doesn’t want to at all .
Set in a northern English town, Jim Cartwright's 1992 play might be based somewhat on the Cinderella story but there are also allusions to Gypsy , Educating Rita , Pygmalion, A Taste of Honey and The Glass Menagerie. The battlefield of emotions and words (or lack of them) with the intensity of the relationship between LV and her mother Mari in particular is blended with humour in a very powerful show. The play is as much about Mari Hoff the mother as Laura ( Little Voice or LV) the daughter and their intense, fractured relationship.  It is also about class and struggling to make good. Rennie’s well thought, terrifically paced direction blends both comedy and tragedy.
The split level set is cluttered and crowded on the stage floor with a fridge, a mattress , washing , a sofa , ironing board , scattered every which way .Above is LV’s eerie , her sanctum where she hides and constantly listens to her records inherited from her father. The room is decorated with charcoal portraits of Judy Garland , Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Bassey . Kingsley Reeve’s soundscape and Trent Suidgeest’s lighting design were essential very efective elements of the production.

In a sensational powerhouse performance Caroline O’Connor as widowed Mari Hoff , LV’s mother,  is a huge eyed vulgar monster , blowsy , an alcoholic , self centred yet  un self aware and someone who unfortunately misjudges everyone she meets. She is on the prowl again looking for love in all the wrong places. Loud mouthed and vulgar she is also a motor mouth , a tumultuous whirlwind. We see her periods of bleak despair yet she also has times of euphoria .She seeks to totally dominate her daughter LV( Little Voice) . Eventually we see the vulnerability and desperation underneath the brash exterior and her pain when she loses everything at the end.   
Laura Hoff, or LV ( Little Voice) - the name her dominating mother Mari has saddled her with is a recluse , agoraphobic , virtually mute and extremely shy . In the privacy of her room however it’s a huge voice indeed as she channels the like of Garland, Monroe , Bassey , Dusty Springfield and Piaf. Tall ,thin Geraldine Hakewell as LV painfully stutters and cowers , only really letting rip with her voice when alone in her room – unless forced to do otherwise - until a surprise twist at the end.Her impressions of the various divas are splendid .
Mari’s latest partner is Ray Say (Joseph Del Re), a seedy theatrical entrepreneur. Ray can see a goldmine in LV’s channelling of her divas and frantically works and manipulates events to fashion LV into a performer.
Kip Chapman is terrific as the sleazy club-owner Mr Boo . He is full of lame jokes and arching gestures but is also somewhat threatening underneath and full of cunning .
Bishanyia Vincent is excellent as Mari’s generally silent sugar loving friend Sadie , sweet , empathetic and rather gormless in a finely nuanced comic performance .  
As Billy the diffident , compassionate phone engineer who falls in love with LV  Charles Wu  is marvellous , giving a strong yet gentle and tender performance .  
play that is as much about the horrendous mother as the hidden talents of her daughter
The ending is rather lyrical and poignant with the stars and LV singing MILCK’s anthem I Can’t Keep Quiet . Is there hope for the future for her and Billy?

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is at the Eternity Playhouse 1-24 February 2019
https://www.darlinghursttheatre.com/whats-on/the-rise-and-fall-of-little-voice
Running time roughly 2 &1/2 hours including interval
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice
Produced by Darlinghurst Theatre Company, in association with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Playwright: Jim Cartwright
Director: Shaun Rennie
Production Designer: Isabel Hudson
Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest
Sound Designer: Kingsley Reeve
Musical Director: Andrew Kroenert
CAST : Caroline O'Connor, Geraldine Hakewill, Joseph del Re, Charles Wu, Kip Chapman and Bishanyia Vincent


 Photos Robert Catto 






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