‘Colder Than Here’: New production brings delicately funny text to life 

From the pen of English playwright Laura Wade comes Colder Than Here, the latest production to grace the stage at The Ensemble until October 12th. 

Now firmly established in the English world of writing, Wade is possibly best known in Australia for her 2015 adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel Tipping the Velvet.   

Local audiences will get a chance to experience her 2005 debut play Colder Than Here, originally performed by Belvoir Theatre in the same year, 

Tackling the seemingly impossible task of making death funny, Colder Than Here has been described as a light-hearted comedy which explores the emotional journey of a woman dying of cancer and looks at how her family reacts to the inevitable. 

While Myra (Hannah Waterman) is facing death and wishes to mend broken relationships, her family remains absorbed in their own issues.

Versatile Sydney actress Airlie Dodds (The Gloaming) plays Jenna, one of Myra’s two daughters who has some issues of her own. 

“She is a recovering bulimic with very permeated boundaries,” Dodds said. “Having known a very private and specific type of hell through the isolation and self-hatred that underscores addiction, she is able to confront and come to terms with her mother’s death. 

“Wade is inkling towards that universal impenetrable loss of a mother in the journeys of these people, but how the only task is to excavate and find the self in the face or imprint of that love.hu

Playing opposite Dodds as Jenna is Charlotte Friels (daughter of Colin Friels and Judy Davis) as her sister Harriet, about whom she said “Charlotte’s very present, centred and defined in what she does. 

“I don’t think she really considers her pedigree in the same way others do.” 

Huw Hugginson is a face that will be familiar to many Australians in the play, who from 1989 to 1999 played PC George Garfield on The Bill and is cast as Myra’s husband Alec in this production. 

Dodds is one of the few Aussies who was not aware of Higginson’s previous work. 

“I actually didn’t watch The Bill except the credits as a child watching Parkinson on a Saturday with my parents,” Dodds said. 

“Huw’s character (Alec) to my mind is empathetic, quite an honourable and moral person who really considers others.” 

Hannah Waterman as Myra is another familiar TV face, having previously played the character of Laura Dunn on the popular series Eastenders. In real-life, Waterman is also in a long-term relationship with Higginson. 

“Hannah attacks her work and there is a real earth to her,” Dodds said. “She has absorbed herself into the part and meets it emotionally.” 

Bringing the text and characters together is director Janine Watson, who has acted in and directed a number of productions for Bell Shakespeare and in 2016 won the inaugural Sandra Bates Directing Award at the Ensemble Theatre. 

Of Watson, Dodds said: “She is deeply committed to those around her and for me that only comes with absolute trust from the director and a sense that I can’t fuck things up.” 

Colder Than Here is now in the hands of a group of talented cast members and a director who have the job of bringing this delicate and funny text to life.  

Colder Than Here
Until October 12, Ensemble Theatre
https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/colder-than-here/