Wretch

BY ANGUS CERINI, A DOUBLETAP PRODUCTION

A prison visit. A swamp of memory. Wretch digs deep into a relationship between a mother and her son. 

A mother visits her teenage son at the prison where he is serving time for crimes of violence.  She struggles to speak of what consumes her while he in turn has his own secret, one that burns on his mind.  Over the course of this visit their love is tested and nothing will stay the same. 

Wretch. Of the things we do for love and the things we do despite it.

Directed and Performed by Angus Cerini and Susie Dee.

Set Design: Marg Horwell
Sound Design: Kelly Ryall
Lighting Design: Richard Vabre.

Winner: 2007 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award.    
Winner: 2009 Green Room Award for Best Design.

“It’s a terrifying piece of theatre, troubling and unforgettable.” John Bailey, The Sunday Age

“Wretch is built around the pathos of visiting hour at prison, as a mother makes her regular visit to her son. The conversation is anything but loving and supportive, however. Rather, it reveals a relationship twisted by insult, blame and guilt, and distorted by sexual abjection — yet still held together by ties that bind so tightly they cut.”  Martin Ball, The Age 

“Slouched on stage, their bodies somehow deformed and twisted under the lights, Dee and Cerini are two tragic clowns, creatures whose abjection is so extreme, so humiliating, that our witnessing is painful. And yet they are stubborn, they make us laugh, and there are telling moments when the slyness of their understanding, their subversive humour, slide in and slash away any possibility of patronising pity.” Alison Croggon, Theatrenotes

First developed with the assistance of Hothouse Theatre and their Month in the Country residency.

THIS PERFORMANCE CONTAINS STRONG ADULT CONCEPTS SOMETIMES OF A VIOLENT AND SEXUAL NATURE. RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 16+

Duration 60mins, No Interval
A Q&A with the writer, director and performer, Angus Cerini, will follow performances on Tue 14 September and Sat 18 September at 2pm.

Image by Ponch Hawkes