A Cheery Soul is a contradiction, centred around hypocrisy, morality, and a desperate need to belong.
Appearing on stage first is a disgruntled Miss Scougall, played by Sandi McMenamin, making her way to the harmonium. It is subtle choices of characterisation – the sighs, grunts and, later on, nodding off amid the chaos – that makes McMenamin a standout in this talented ensemble. At the harmonium, she gives a rendition of Glen Campbell’s “Try A Little Kindness” with a reluctance that sets the tone for everything to come.
Written by Australian novelist, playwright and Nobel Prize winner Patrick White in 1963, A Cheery Soul explores themes of religion, sin and virtue, identity, and the tension that sits at the heart of challenging the norm.
We are quickly introduced to Mr and Mrs Custance, a comfortable couple played by Robert Cusenza and Catherine Campbell, who appear to like their life. Yet boredom, guilt and fear of the afterlife drives Mrs Custance to open her home to the “cheery soul” herself, Miss Docker, who’s just been booted out of her own apartment.
From here, it becomes abundantly clear how little people are willing to compromise or surrender, even in the name of God or goodness.
Cusenza and Campbell are wonderful in their portrayal of Mr and Mrs Custance, capturing both a stiffness and resistance to the outside world, and a warmth between them as a married couple.
Martha Lott is the source of much laughter the ‘cheery soul’ Miss Docker.
Martha Lott, Adelaide’s sweetheart of theatre, is completely transformed in her role as Miss Docker. Lott’s portrayal of the militantly virtuous, exhausting, and suffocating leading lady is embodied brilliantly in every element of her performance, from her physicality to her voice.
Not only is Lott the source of much laughter, her talents are also showcased in how she brings a humanity to, and evokes empathy for, a character that many know all too well and prefer to steer clear of.
The entire cast, under the direction of Peter Goers, are brilliant, as each character highlights a demographic of society that is impacted by Miss Docker – whether it be the women in a nursing home (played by Jo Coventry and Sue Wylie), the next generation of churchgoers (Amelia Lott-Watson in a Holden Street debut), or a man who simply wants to clean his gutters on a Sunday (Ron Hoenig).
The Studio at Holden Street Theatres is lost in a sea of multi-coloured crocheted blankets. They decorate the stage walls from floor to ceiling; they are the upholstery on the chairs and the tablecloths on the table. It is a clever design from Brian Budgen and Anne Wills as it allows the set to take audiences to a particular time and place – 1959 in Sarsaparilla, a fictional suburb 30 kilometres from Sydney – and also for the characters, who are as striking and surreal as the set itself, to be centred in the space and drive the narrative.
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As the people around Miss Docker, including a dishevelled priest (David Arcidiaco) and his wife (Jessica Corrie), insist they must “learn to love her”, it raises questions around characters like the cheery soul – who unintentionally and with the best intentions blur the lines between goodness and sin – and how they need to belong, and we need them to keep the world going round.
A Cheery Soul is at Holden Street Theatres until October 12.
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