Written by John Misto
Directed by Lexi Sekuless
Mill Theatre at Dairy Road, Fyshwick to 27 April
Reviewed by Len Power 12 April 2024
First performed in 1995, “The Shoe Horn Sonata” won several awards for its Australian playwright, John Misto.
Based on true wartime events, two women (both fictional characters) are interviewed for television half a century after they were freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the jungles of Sumatra. Thousands of women and children had died there and were forgotten by their own Governments for the duration of the war.
Bridie Cartwright (Andrea Close), an Aussie battler and a British citizen, Sheila Richards (Zsuzsi Soboslay) meet for the first time since the war. Both women are noticeably different personality types and one of them has kept a terrible secret from wartime.
The nicely detailed set, designed by Annette Sharp, evokes memories of wartime experiences amongst live screens of a modern television studio. The action moves between on set interviews and Sheila’s bedroom in a hotel.
Timmy Sekuless provides the voice of the unseen television interviewer, gently coaxing memories from the two women. Leisa Keen’s sound design of voices, war-time sound effects and music create an apt, vibrant atmosphere.
Bridie Cartwright, a member of the Australian Army nursing corps during the war, has a forceful, lively personality. There is a marked vulnerability under the surface brashness of this character and her vocal inflections are nicely recognizable from women of that era. Andrea Close gives the character a remarkable depth as well as maintaining the bustling energy of this woman throughout the play.
As the British wartime nurse, Sheila Richards, Zsuzsi Soboslay plays a more retiring, fragile-seeming character. Soboslay adeptly hints at the pain this woman still suffers from her wartime experiences and then surprises by revealing a steely strength hidden under the surface. It’s a subtle, carefully detailed study of this woman.
Lexi Sekuless, the director, has given this play a memorable production that flows very well back and forth between the television station and the hotel room. The use of live images of the women as they are interviewed gives the immediacy of today’s electronic world, in sharp contrast to their vivid war-time memories.
The story of these women is harrowing, compelling and very well told. The reality is that these women were prevented from telling their stories after the war. Governments even destroyed their diaries, which they had risked their lives to keep secret. “The Shoe Horn Sonata” contains shocking revelations, as well as providing a memorable drama of two women who survived the horrors of that time.
Len Power's reviews are also
broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.
