Tales of missing children have always held a terrible fascination. Celtic folklore chilled the bones of many a superstitious new mother with stories of babies stolen from their beds by envious fairies, changelings left in their place.
These days, when a child disappears the media grabs us by the throat and won’t let us go. These disappearances can haunt us for days, weeks, years…
In the dark of a Sydney winter, Hilary Bell’s disquieting and downright chilling thriller Splinter channels tabloid news and primal fears alike. A couple are reunited with their missing daughter. Fierce love has sustained them through her unbearable absence.
But now she’s home… something just isn’t right. How do they stop their imaginations running wild? Maybe if they return to the beach house where they spent their happiest summers, they’ll return to their old selves.
Revisiting the sinister territories of Wolf Lullaby – Splinter reunites Bell’s supreme atmospherics with another powerhouse performance from sister, Lucy (Speaking in Tongues, Dreams in White) as a mother forced to confront the unthinkable.
Directed by Lee Lewis and starring Lucy Bell and Simon Gleeson (An Ideal Husband, Les Misérables), this claustrophobic chamber piece questions how well we know our families. Up close and intimate in the Stables, there’s nowhere to hide.
“I have been addicted to this play for years,” says director Lee Lewis. “It is a relief to put the words into the hands of great actors. Humanity leaps off the page into voices that become moments that become stories that whisk you away to intense examinations of the human condition.”
Director: Lee Lewis Featuring: Lucy Bell, Simon Gleeson Composer/Sound Designer: Alyx Dennison Video Designer: Mic Gruchy Lighting Designer: Benjamin Brockman Designer: Tobhiyah Stone Feller Stage Manager: Rebecca Poulter
Splinter
SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross (Sydney)
Season: 11 September – 12 October 2019
Information and Bookings: www.griffintheatre.com.au
Butter Factory Theatre, Lincoln Causeway, Wodonga
Season: 15 – 19 October 2019
Information and Bookings: www.hothousetheatre.com.au
Image: Simon Gleeson and Lucy Bell feature in Splinter (supplied)