Review: The Hypotheticals at The Rechabite

The Hypotheticals at The Rechabite
Thursday, November 14, 2024

Western Australian theatre company The Last Great Hunt is renowned for its poignant and thought-provoking works. The TLGH team is adept at composing beautiful dialogues grounded in complex social issues and diverse experiences and nestled in witty writing, easy humour, and a courageous sense of play. The Hypotheticals is another such triumph.

Based on the celebrated 2020 NT Literary Award for Theatre script of the same name, from Australian creatives Jeffrey Jay Fowler and Sarah Reuben, The Hypotheticals sees Fowler and Reuben take to the stage in this two-hander about connection, commitment and deep uncertainty.

Playing best friends in their mid-30s, ‘The Woman’ (Reuben), a straight, single woman, and ‘The Man’ (Fowler), a gay, partnered man, contemplate conceiving a child together. Initially beginning as a light-hearted proposition, the play increasingly unfurls as the reality of the decision to conceive and raise a child becomes apparent and its consequences and complexities are thoroughly contemplated.

Interweaving a dynamic script full of light-hearted back-and-forth wit with darker moments of vulnerability shared between the performers, The Hypotheticals manifests itself as an articulate vehicle through which the uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and responsibility of modern parenthood can be examined. Despite the strikingly ‘odd-couple’ dynamics of a parenting duo without romantic connection, the play holds poignance for all individuals who are contemplating parenthood. In the characters’ imagining and execution of hypothetical situations, in the safety of their mutual trust and friendship, they offer a vocabulary and entry point for audiences to contemplate their personal views on parenthood and potentially start their own conversations.

The Rechabite Hall was an excellent space for the performance. Especially as the venue routinely triumphs with its diverse and thoughtful scheduling of queer-friendly, inclusive, and celebratory events both through the month of November (Pride) as well as throughout the calendar year. With the poignance of Fowler’s performance and his medication on the hypothetical social responses to his queerness in the context of parenthood and current political events, there was no better play for audiences to see.

Laura Boynes’ choreography pairs seamlessly with Adam Mitchell’s direction. A sense of warmth and deep trust permeates from Fowler and Reuben. The painstaking development process of the piece and the deeply personal connection that both performers clearly feel to its characters, dialogue, and themes are strikingly apparent and incredibly gratifying to witness as a viewer.

Visual Designer Matthew McVeigh’s construction of a backlit frame, occupied only by a rectangular plinth, is well thought out and well executed. By leaving the space largely unfilled, McVeigh’s design encourages a pronounced physicality from the performers. It also speaks largely to the manner in which intangible anxieties, experiences, hopes, and imagined lives occupy the space around us. At moments, the plinth structure becomes bed-like, and the coolness of the lighting offers a strong evocation of sterility, akin to a hospital room or birthing suite. As such, it was fitting at times to imagine the transposing of the play and its themes across such spaces and meditate on the innumerable ‘hypotheticals’ that inform and largely comprise individuals’ decisions to embark into parenthood.

The Hypotheticals is a masterpiece of compassionate and emotive story-telling and a highly gratifying experience. While parenthood is not a decision to be entered into with haste, purchasing tickets to this important and resonant production most certainly is.

BEC WELDON