After 13 years, Stephen House’s play Miss Blossom Callahann is as hard-hitting and relevant as ever.
The scene is set. With the intimacy of the La Mama theatre, it’s like we, the audience, have walked into bedroom of the predominantly scarlet-clad Miss Blossom Callahann and caught her in bed with yet another man, Max – “the Cat”. We become the flies on the wall as the intriguing black comedy unfolds.
We find out we are in a cheap inner – city boarding house room on the wrong side of town.
pic: Magda de la Pesca
When lady of the night, Blossom and homeless, petty crim Max wake up after a heavy night out on the booze, the dialogue reveals a complex scenario and interaction between the two. The colourful, fey Blossom, now around 60, lives in fantasies about what might have been and what may come. But when her exploitative landlady threatens to kick her out this very day for being late with the rent, Blossom devises a solution.
A second visitor, aptly named Junk, arrives to pick up a bag of “ice“ he had previously left behind. Bizarre twists and unpredictable turns occur as all three characters play games with each other. Police are amassing in the street below their window. Will anyone win?
The play is intense, revealing and an interesting expose of life on the seamy side.
When it finishes, one feels the need to go outside and quietly digest what has gone on. There’s plenty to think about.
Multi-award winning writer/director/actor, Stephen House uses the devices of black comedy and heightened realism. But the characters feel very authentic. He has obviously been no stranger to the world he portrays. He says it arose from his time on the seedy streets of Smith Street, Collingwood around 15-20 years ago.
The play highlights the realities of homelessness, drug addiction, exploitation and sexploitation. It deals with the marginalised members of our society, the ones caught in the poverty cycle.
Rosemary Johns, accomplished playwright and actor, brings Blossom to life in a way that delights Stephen – and intrigues the audience. Out of ten eager applicants for the role, he decided Rosemary was Blossom. House says some may not find Blossom a very nice woman but he says it is not his intention to demean women, but to help people understand that more understanding and compassion needs to be shown to women in her predicament.
The experienced cast all give strong performances. Marc Opitz as Max, Will Ewing as Junk and Ruth Katerelos as Geraldine, the tough landlady. They make you believe they are the characters they play.
From L-R: Junk (Will Ewing), Geraldine (Ruth Katerelos) ,Max( Marc Opitz), MIss Blossom (Rosemary Johns ),
Writer/ director. Stephen House
pic: Magda de la Pesca
This is the 4th reincarnation of Miss Blossom Callahann since its first ABC radio performance in 2004, later converted into a theatre piece and playing in Adelaide in 2005, and bizarrely enough in New Delhi where he adapted it for Indian audiences in 2011. Stephen played Max with an all -Indian, bilingual cast – who broke into Hindi when he left the stage! It got rave reviews in many major Indian newspapers.
Now after, 13 years, it’s in Melbourne, back to its roots. Stephen still loves it with a passion. Miss Blossom is one of his favourite “babies”. The issues it deals with are more relevant than ever in our current society – and probably getting worse with the rise in homelessness, mental health problems, scourge of ice addiction. The ever-increasing economic divide. The near impossibility of escaping the poverty trap…
Ironically, my theatre companion was a disillusioned, corporate high- flyer caught in the wealth trap.
Food for thought?
MISS BLOSSOM CALLAHANN
written and directed by Stephen House
May 3-14
La Mama
205 Faraday St
Carlton, Vic
Ph: (03) 9347 6948
Review by Magda de la Pesca 3 May 2017
