As Our Monster’s Name is Jerry begins, from behind possibly the most magnificent curtain ever hung across a performance space, Amanda LaBonté walks out, a prelude, essentially telling the audience what we already know, that we’re going to be told a story.
We’re introduced to the main characters in the play – Maude (Laura Jane Turner) and Lou (Em Jevons) – a loving couple trying to have a baby. It’s a charming introduction… except as Amanda continues to speak the light coming from down low in the wings casts a large and unsettling (fore)shadow over Maude and Lou.
The prelude ends and the curtain is pulled back to reveal Maude and Lou’s new home – a soon-to-be comfortable place to deal with the anxiety and stress of fertility treatments and pregnancy. However, something in the house doesn’t want Maude or Lou to be comfortable. It wants them to be frightened, and they (along with the audience) are drawn further in.
Savanna Wegman’s set design is a worn, gorgeously decrepit diorama – all rough-cut angles, peeling wallpaper, differences in scale – helping build a palpable unease as the play progresses. There are secrets in the walls of the house, as the streetlight from outside shines through one window.
Indeed, Thomas Roach’s lighting design weaves itself, along with Robbie Divine’s and Charlie Bowmaker’s sound, perfectly into the storytelling fabric.
Laura Jane Turner and Em Jevons were wonderful in their respective roles as Maude and Lou, with the chemistry and unspoken familiarity of a believable couple, helping make the reverse – latter moments of confusion, accusation, and outright horror – gripping to watch.
In lesser hands, the role of Jerry could find itself trapped in melodrama or panto, but juvenile is not a synonym for cartoonish – something Tomas Parrish more than proved in the role.
Amanda LaBonté gave a great performance as both Aunt Wendy and Barbara, but with everything that’s gone in that house, are you sure you want to trust that casserole?
Beautiful, creative touches abound in Our Monster’s Name is Jerry. Playwright Amy May Nunn and Director Alanah Guiry have fashioned, with their team, an impressive new work. It’s fun, freaky in (a lot of) places. It’s freaking awesome!
Our Monster’s Name is Jerry
Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda
Performance: Tuesday 18 February 2025
Season continues to 22 February 2025
Information and Bookings: www.theatreworks.org.au
Image: Tomas Parrish, Laura Jane Turner and Em Jevons in Our Monster’s Name is Jerry – photo by Kimberly Summer
Review: June Collins