‘In "Independence," the playwright …manages to carve out fully realised characters who surprise, provoke and trouble the mind long after the show is over.’- The LA Times
Independence
7-9 June 2019
The Motley Bauhaus
By LEE BLESSING
Directed by RUBY REES
WED - SAT: 8:00 PM / SAT: 2:00 PM
MATINEES: SAT 20 FEBRUARY, 2:00 PM
After years of estrangement, Kess Briggs returns home to the small town of Independence, Iowa at the request of her younger sister, Jo; their mother, Evelyn, is displaying the same behaviours that once led to her admission to a mental health institute.
Kess, having had a turbulent relationship with Evelyn, resents being dragged back to the life she hated, whilst Jo — a young, single romantic and peacekeeper — has now fallen pregnant and is struggling to look after Evelyn alone. Sherry, the youngest sister, is a wild and incorrigible artist who wants only to finish high school so she can leave home — and her family — for good.
Reuniting in their family home, old wounds open and new trauma is inflicted whilst the sisters become further entangled in Evelyn’s apron strings. Individually they struggle to define their own version of freedom; establishing an arbitrary independence for each that straddles the chasm between their own personal heaven and hell.
