THEATRE: VIGIL
Image: Delivered with the droll aplomb of a mortician, Vigil is hardly the traditional story of a long-lost nephew keeping his aunty company on her deathbed. Sometimes stirring, sometimes bleakly comic, it’s a nicely played out little gem.
Spaced with biting vignettes against a creeping, melodica soundtrack and delivered with all the droll aplomb of a mortician, Vigil is hardly the traditional story of a long-lost nephew keeping his aunty company on her deathbed. Happy reunion? Not quite. These are two deeply lonely people locked in a bitter battle of attrition to the death – literally – a battle which, like life, has no particular purpose. But some real treasures can be plundered from the wreckage; the wily little aunt electrocuting her misanthropic relative, his own unrelenting monologues salted with sometimes stirring, sometimes comic insights into his twisted childhood. Classics like, when you read fast, “old and dying” can look like “yodelling,” perfectly capture the acid tongue-trips he takes; although at times they can come across a little too sickly sweet. Played out masterfully by Gertraud Ingeborg and Travis Cotton, with clever, gentle staging and a neat little plot twist, Vigil is definitely worth some of your watchful attention.
Until March 28. Old Fitzroy Theatre, Cnr Cathedral & Dowling Sts, Woolloomooloo. $17-$29, www.rocksurfers.org or 1300 GET TIX
