A three-part mini-episodic tragicomedy exploring the shocking disappearances of an actress as the performance of character collides with the performance of personal fears.
Set in the magical world of theatre, the actress, fading, and hung-over suffers the post-show blues of a one-star show. Out–of- control and now, out- of- work, the actress spirals into a life-changing decision, catapulting onto a path of self-destruction. In a desperate attempt to secure a role uniquely her own, the actress hires a new agent who promises her success. The agent manipulates the actress into surrendering her willpower for a fantasy world in which she is now trapped. As her make-believe world collapses, the actress faces her greatest illusion.
Warning: This story has a serrated moral edge.
The theatrical performance at Melbourne’s La Mama Theatre was a powerful, confronting precisely performed and highly dramatic outcome.
– Elizabeth Taylor is My Mother, Philip Parsons Prize for performance as research winner – ADSA, 2016.
Creator and Performer: Suzie Hardgrave
Lighting and Set Design: Bronwyn Pringle
Sound Design: Chris Wenn
Directorial and Dramaturgical Consultant: Alister Smith
Movement Advisor: Sarah Cathcart
Assistant Director Internship: Greta Doell
Image by Darren Gill
Special thanks to Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, Dr Fiona Gregory, Professor Stacy Holman Jones, Karl Willebrant and the Centre for Theatre and Performance, Monash University.
Hardgrave has created a visceral and sharply realised take on the trauma of identity. The desire for celebrity is a desire for reinvention, longing for the power to start again and again.’
Rebecca Harkins-Cross – The Age 2015 (Elizabeth Taylor is My Mother)
