Sibling rivalry: Isabella Calthorpe (India), Charlotte Parry (Gemma), Alice Sanders (Mouse), Patricia Potter (Garden), Claire Forlani (Willow). Photo credit: Mark Douet
Play: The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Theatre: Tricycle Theatre
Playwright: Adam Bock
Director: Trip Cullman
Review by Natalie Gormally
Canadian-born writer Adam Bock reunites (for the fifth time) with director Trip Cullman to explore life behind the perfectly groomed and glamorous facade of high-society New York in this black comedy.
The five Colby sisters, India (Isabella Calthorpe), twins Gemma (Charlotte Parry) and Garden (Patricia Potter), Willow (Claire Forlani) and youngest of the family Mouse (Alice Sanders), have succeeded in clawing their way from Pittsburgh to Fifth Avenue.
The audience may wonder if they have stumbled into a period drama as the play opens with sisters India and Willow, dressed in extravagant and lavish frocks, staring longingly and aimlessly into the crowd from their antique chaise longue. But as the rest of the tribe arrive in their contemporary fashion, the elegant exteriors are in preparation for a group portrait, reminiscent of Cecil Beaton’s 1948 celebrated Vogue fashion shoot with models draped in Charles James gowns, symbolising a narcissistic and indulgent society.
Tensions within the sibling group soon show as we are taken from photo-shoot to gala dinner. Willow, the eldest, is weak and weepy. She married poorly and now faces the unimaginable prospect of having to get a job. India, loved and adored by all, appears swan-like and smug in her own more successful choices. The younger Mouse is puerile with a succession of unsuitable boyfriends, the latest being “a barista…I think it’s some kind of lawyer…” she reveals.
The bossy and more affluent Gemma attempts to control everything the sisters do – from what they wear to who they marry. Her overwhelming influence on her twin, Garden, comes to a head as she convinces her to dump her philandering husband, with shocking and devastating consequences.
Cullman’s gorgeous cast and production, stylishly dressed by Richard Kent, provides a luxurious veneer to this 75-minute play. Oversized and brightly lit, moving screens project images and videos of the young family pre-tragedy. The tennis match scene between Forlani and Parry is particularly impressive, with the sound effects of bouncing balls and serves timed perfectly by each of them.
Bock shifts seamlessly between satire and sympathy in the attitudes toward the sisters and their lifestyle. There is also a darker back story lurking here, including their mother’s probable suicide, which is alluded to. Bock wants the audience to fill in the gaps themselves; a risk as the story may feel incomplete for some. As Mouse suggests at the end of the play: “Nobody knows us. They think they do. But they don’t.”
The cast delivers a strong ensemble performance, particularly Parry who plays officious convincingly. Sanders’ delivers some of the sweetest and funniest lines to great effect. Ronke Adekoluejo is the ever-present, but silent, assistant, aiding the physical transition between scenes. However, it is a shame she doesn’t have more to say.
The Colby Sisters is a glamorous, stylish and tragic tale, wrapped in the age-old proverb that “money can’t buy you happiness”. But you can sure as hell can look fabulous.
The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will be at Tricycle Theatre until 26 July 2014.