Established cross-disciplinary creative Grazia Marin will present her newest stage play Little Absences at Chapel Off Chapel from 18 – 21 March 2026.
Chris, a keenly intelligent and witty woman in the later years of her life, is obstinately still living at home, despite the concerns of her daughter, Jenny. But Jenny sees her elderly mother’s vulnerability and addiction – the battle she is not sure Chris is winning.
An exploration of an all-too-common story, this play asks: what do we do, as a society and individually, when our elders become too fragile to look after themselves?
In addition to aiming to create a platform upon which to demonstrate the skills and talents of women artists, especially older women, Grazia Marin also wrote this play to shine a light on the struggles of ‘The Sandwich Generation’.
Many women, Marin herself included, have experienced, or are currently experiencing, trying to juggle looking after their children, their employment and their aging parents: sandwiched between generations and the needs of others.
“The story line spotlights the character of the elderly, dementing mother who is a repressed poet and an alcoholic. Through the vehicle of her character and her deterioration, the realities of the stresses her daughter faces are highlighted,” says playwright Grazia Marin.
Directed by Elnaz Sheshgelani, this play marks the triumphant return of senior CALD playwright, Grazia Marin (Why Can’t Women Be Like Men?, Waiting for Ice Cream).
With a cast led by Australian theatre icon Janet Watson Kruse and supported by Veronicka Devlin and Piera Dennerstein, Little Absences sensitively gives voice to those who are all too often invisible: our female elders who have only just begun to live, and their caring children.
Little Absences
The Loft at Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran
Season: 18 – 21 March 2026
Information and Bookings: www.chapeloffchapel.com.au
Image: Janet Watson Kruse stars in Little Absences – photo by Bernard Peasley