Left – Kym Vercoe. Photo – Phil ErbacherWho would have thunk it? An opera singer opening a show at the Kings Cross Hotel? It is one of the marvellous conceits and inventions of The Angelica Complex, a thrilling theatrical voyage into pregnancy, post-partum, and parenting.
Inspired by Puccini's all female opera, Suor Angelica and the personal experiences of new motherhood by writer Sunny Grace, The Angelica Complex is an examination of the modern pressures brought to bear on woman from here to maternity; the terrifying tightrope tripping of child bearing to child caring to child rearing.
Told they can have it all, contemporary women choosing to have children now face running a self- sacrificial gauntlet fuelled by social media and peer pressure rather than traditional family support.
Angelica narrates her story of contemporary motherhood where the pressures of being perfect create a petri-dish of paranoia and guilt, from conception and carrying to delivery and nurturing.
Abstinence from alcohol and an assortment of dietary denial, Stepford-like uniformity of yoga and leisure wear, and body image issues funnel into feelings of inadequacy and depression. Abstinence in excess, a veritable Voltaire perfect storm – “neither abstinence nor excess ever rendered woman happy”.
As Angelica, Kym Vercoe is veracious in her observations, from the physical exhaustion of a voracious infant to the psychological fatigue of eternal vigilance.
Naomi Livingstone is the opera singer, swathed in virginal white, making full throated and enigmatic commentary on Angelica's plight, a sort of instinctive subconscious, and there's a live feed videographer in the person of Lucia May whose intrusive interventions serve to illustrate the tedious and impertinent interruption and interpretation of our reality with the incessant, 24/7 virtual.
Directed by Priscilla Jackman, The Angelica Complex plays November 12, 15, 18, 24 and 27 as part of the Invisible Circus programme of works written and directed by Australian women.
The Angelica Complex
by Priscilla Jackman and Sunny Grace
Director Priscilla Jackman
Venue: Kings Cross Theatre (KXT) | Level 2, Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross NSW
Dates: 12, 15, 18, 24 and 27 November 2016
Tickets: $30 – $25
Bookings: www.kingsxtheatre.com
