A Delicate Balance

Joseph Lloyd
13th Nov 2019

This is a production for the seasoned theatre goer and lover of drama as we’re taken into an era more than half a century ago where younger audiences would find the language and social references difficult to relate to.

The script is a pure masterpiece though with its ability to draw out more than two hours of drama from the disequilibrium of the opening characters’ household that becomes a halfway house disturbing the ‘balance’. Hints of underlying issues in the dysfunctionality in the marriage of Tobias and Agnes, carefree sister of Agnes, Julie’s tendency to drink almost in every scene, daughter Julie’s fourth failed marriage surprisingly, despite the length of the production explored or resolved. There’s a vagueness that is maintained throughout the storyline, like for example when close friends, Harry and Edna show up in fear, but is never actually revealed.

It’s an intense snap shot in time. The plot is very in the moment solely focused on the dynamics of flawed individuals in a family, how they interact with one another and how they want to be or should behave and be perceived in front of others.

Minimal dressing in set design allows for the audience to immerse themselves deeply into each character and if you’re not use to this style of dialogue, some may feel the subject a little tedious as we circle through each member of the family as they deliberate the presence of intruders into their household.

Final week of performances running through to 16 November at Chippen Street Theatre.