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Monday 24 October 2011

This Year's Ashes by Jane Bodie

This Year's Ashes is a funny play but has a underlying sadness.

There are rules in this city
Never bring them back to your place
Never more than three shags
Never tell them your real name
Never mention the cricket Never (ever) cry


Ellen (Belinda Bromillow) lives alone and generally is going through a difficult time. She isn't happy at work, she is drinking and sleeping with strangers.  Ellen spends most nights propping up bars, drinking alone to the point for numbness, so when she awakes in the morning she has no idea who is in the bed with her, nor does she care.
She returns home to her Elizabeth Bay flat to find her father who has been missing for a couple of years. It is the Ashes and he has returned to listen to it on the radio as they did it the past.
The scenes with her father are touching and sensitive bringing the past and present together.  Ellen gives him a comical speech about everything that she hates about Sydney. He (Tony Llewellyn-Jones) gives Ellen a run down of the out and in rules of cricket. This was very cleverly written and if Tony did make a mistake you would never know!  This is in contrast to the 'morning after' scenes which are very awkward, amusing and a little tense with Nathan Lovejoy. Nathan's part is very amusing, he is the typical bumbling man who knows what has happened and is slightly embarrassed. He would like her to stay and as she isn't talking he fills in the dead air with anything that falls out of his month. The scene with the pillow is hilarious!
At the end I left hoping that there is going to be a sequel. Though the play has a definite ending I want to know whether she gets her life back together and if she does how does she do it.  So, Jane can you please write a life after the Ashes?

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