Lucy Heffernan as Karlie and Jacob Warner as Peter in Luna Gale. Photo: Phil Erbacher
Life wasn’t meant to be easy, and there’s certainly a lot of unease in this tale. Two 19-year-olds, incapable of looking after themselves, have a baby. The authorities step in, led by a veteran social worker, and declare neglect (always a potentially scary scenario: Ken Loach’s searing 1994 docu-drama Ladybird, Ladybird came to mind immediately).
In Rebecca Gilman’s sharply observed Luna Gale, the teenage mother’s mother, God-fearing and not a little smug, puts up her hand to take over the baby and it looks like a done deal. But as this drama unfolds, we learn so much more about each of the characters and then it’s not so easy to make snap judgments. Complex family dynamics, past traumas, and issues of parenting across two generations are all in play here.
Georgie Parker gives a stellar performance as Caroline. Photo: Phil Erbacher
Luna Gale is not all laughs as it dives into complex family issues. Photo: Phil Erbacher
Director Susanna Dowling has assembled a wonderful cast, a mix of well-known and yet-to-be well-known actors. In the first category we have Georgie Parker as the social worker, Caroline, and Michelle Doake as Cindy, the baby’s grandmother. They’re as good as you’d expect them be, each playing complex characters. Then there are the hapless parents, Peter and Karlie, played by Jacob Warner and Lucy Heffernan – both of them standouts in their roles and making their debuts at the Ensemble.
This a play that starts strong, and doesn’t let up. We first meet Peter, who’s out of his head and Karlie, who’s high and aggro, demanding Luna back from the hospital where they have taken her because she’s been unwell. Caroline, superior and in charge, isn’t having any of it, and then Cindy comes into the picture, sure she will pass the kinship care and vetting tests necessary to take her grandchild from her daughter. The alarm bells go off for Caroline when Cindy wants to adopt the child, wrest her from her own daughter permanently.
Luna Gale is not all laughs as it dives into complex family issues. Photo: Phil Erbacher
Immediately all sorts of issues are raised among them: who gets to decide what’s best for the child; can their parents clean up their act; did Karlie get herself into this state by herself or was her upbringing to blame; how squeaky clean is Cindy?; What’s God got to do with it and who’s playing God here? Secrets, lies and complicit behaviour bubble to the top, and it’s not easy any more to see who’s right and who’s wrong.
This is a wonderfully taut and tense drama with big issues thrown into the air by great actors. Parker is wonderful as Caroline, a woman who chose not to have children yet is responsible for the wellbeing of so many of them. Her own judgments could be faulted, and her overbearing and younger male boss makes life as difficult as he can, but she is doing her best to get it right. Doake is totally believable as the saintly Cindy who believes Jesus is the answer to everything and is backed all the way by the self-righteous Pastor Jay (David Whitney).
Heffernan, as the vulnerable and wounded Karlie, is mesmerising on stage; and Warner’s Peter is also strong, a kid himself who has to step up if he wants to get custody of his own child.
Theatre doesn’t get any better than this.
Luna Gale is at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli until October 13.
