WHAT’S ON IN GEELONG: HOPE SONG HARD TO FORGET

The Hope Song is theatre that will stay with you long after the stage lights have dimmed, and the applause has ended.

Presented by Anglesea Performing Arts (APA), the play is honest, often sad and sometimes very funny, thanks to Janet Brown’s finely crafted script, Iris Walshe-Howling and Janine McKenzie’s collaborative direction, and the cast’s uniformly excellent performances.

Eight people are onstage throughout: seven actors and a musician.

Each actor portrays one of the people Ms Brown interviewed for her script, the words they speak are the words of real people living with mental illness.

Phillip Besancon (Birdman), Stacey Carmichael (Lizzie), Stuart Errey (Michael), Simon Finch (Dave), Lina Libroaperto (Jill), Libby Stapleton (Louise) and Nicki Watson (Sally) perform with such integrity and skill, it’s easy to forget they are acting.

The opening choreographed sequence of motion and stillness confronts and fascinates.

Faces and bodies contort with the agony – and several times, the ecstasy – of mental illness, becoming more menacing as the actors move towards the audience, gibbering.

Then they stop, sit and start to share their stories – anxiety features in several; bipolar, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, depression and eating disorder in others.

The cast’s diversity shows that mental illness can affect anyone of any age and walk of life. The youngest character is a Year 11 student and the oldest a 60-something recently retrenched executive.

Musician Tim Hulsman is a talented guitarist with a strong, versatile voice.

His rendition of each character’s signature song, from the Christian gospel of “Be Held” to the guttural soul of “With a Little Help from my Friends”, packs a punch – every time.

This production at Geelong’s Courthouse Theatre follows sold-out seasons in Anglesea and at La Mama in Melbourne, may The Hope Song continue to extend its reach out into the big wide world.