Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Gillian Hardie, Leanne Martin, Louise Garcia.
We must always remember that we don’t truly understand, not completely, how another person feels, that despite the smiles and triumphant words shown and yelled to the world, we have no way of knowing the pain they suffer behind closed doors. The world of social media has perhaps exacerbated that sense of false bonhomie, putting on a face for the world in digital form when all you want to do is lock yourself away and deal with the grief that has been placed at your door.
It is the nature of grief and exposed friendship that beats at the emotional rollercoaster of Trisha Duffy’s incredibly insightful, sensitive play, Broken Biscuits.
If humour, genuine curl at the mouth and hearty laugh, is an emotion in which many believe impossible to capture in the heat of pre-determined script, then grief, untold, almost merciless sorrow and woe must surely be unworkable, not just awkward or difficult to convey, it should be unfeasible to demand that an actor could reach a part of their soul and show the epitome of wretched heartbreak. Yet when it is conveyed with a strength of conviction that as an audience member utterly takes you to a place of empathy and the urge to reach out into the stage and performer themselves, then you understand that the human experience is one to never be taken lightly.
Wilfred Owen spoke of the pity of war, a soldier’s viewpoint perhaps but one in this moment of reflection as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passing of bugle sounds declaring peace, in which we must remember not only the soldiers who come home from any way, scarred and alone, not only the dead who gave their life in the ultimate sacrifice but that of the families, of the mothers and fathers who grieve away, some to the point where they no longer feel the breathe of life within them. It is to these brave souls that Broken Biscuits speaks volumes to, and in which the rest of us fortunate enough to not lose someone in such a manner, must take heed and understand their sorrow.
Directed by Margaret Connell, Broken Biscuits is majestic, heartfelt, affecting, shattering, it is beautifully performed and with ever trustworthy, consistently alluring Gillian Hardie, the astonishing Leanne Martin and Louise Garcia, showing the younger, less sympathetic face of such hardship of the mind off perfectly, Trisha Duffy’s elegant play deserves unfailing patronage by the larger community; a play that understands grief to the point of sheer admiration, and whilst only an hour long, it hits home with such force that it cannot be ignored.
Outstanding!
Ian D. Hall