THEATRE: A SOLITARY CHOICE

Ruth is an ordinary suburban mother and wife. She works in finance, she takes her son to the park, she cooks lamp chops for her husband. Ruth would make for an un-extraodinary protagonist except for one thing, a chance encounter with a pan-pipe playing Bolivian. He has rhythm, he compliments her, he adds flavour to her lacklustre world. And Ruth is reborn. Bursting at the seams of her synthetic suburban-housewife fibres, she has all the vivacity of a school girl on a foreign exchange program. And just like a school girl, she makes a mistake – one that will change her life forever.

Tamara Lee plays Ruth in this one-woman show with such vigour and emotion that an audience will be left questioning themselves. A performance that will force any woman to walk a mile in her shoes. Seemingly, Ruth is a woman in comfortable shoes. She’s a woman who has played it safe her whole life, making choices with the finesse of a banker. However, she soon switches and, with a poignant red lighting change, she speaks of the black-haired, broken-toothed girl who sings within in her like it’s the fire inside her belly. All the while, juxtaposed against the imprisoned citizens with their inhibited freedom of choice in Bolivia. An audience can only wonder if the emancipated figure within the play is being carried by Ruth or if it’s the societal restraint she must carry with her choices.

Until Nov 27, Seymour Centre, cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale, $15-28, 9351 7940, sydney.edu.au/seymour