Powerful play makes mental illness visible
Image: Gordon Vignelles in THE DISAPPEARANCE. Image: supplied
When The Disappearance played in May this year as part of the Actor’s Benevolent Fund benefit night, it was clear it had potential for a full season run. Critics and audiences were ecstatic in their response.
The Disappearance is a re-working of the 1973 novel by Kin Platt, The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear, which itself inspired the British film, Baxter. Both the book and the film have informed this staged version.
The story centres on a young teenage boy living in America who has a severe speech impediment which not only gives him personal grief but evokes unhelpful intercessions from his parents. Said parents are in the throes of a crumbling marriage and further destabilise their son with a planned move to Australia.
The boy’s mental health quickly declines until he reaches breaking point and decides to “disappear”. His therapist and two genuinely concerned neighbours seem to be the only people that can reach him and offer some hope for resolution.
Directed by Les Solomon, The Disappearance features a cast of young emerging performers alongside established actors including Kath Gordon (All My Sons), Rebecca Matthews (The Artful Dodger) and Mo Lovegrove (Jagged Little Pill, Into the Woods). In the role of the boy is rising star, Gordon Vignelles, whose previous credits include a starring role in a film he co-produced which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
