Review: Backbone

Great theatre came hand-in-hand with the soaring profile of a great cause.


There was a low cacophony of mumbling as I took my seat in the Barron Theatre on Friday night. Joanna Alpern’s reputation for brilliant, prolific student writing spans as far and wide as is possible in a town this size – and the general consensus is positive. On first entry, I spotted representatives from Marrow wearing T-shirts to advertise the charity. One of the cast members strolled by, also donning said T-shirt – a smart costume move, augmenting the exposure given to the charity by the brilliant two-hour show. The play opened strongly, with Laura Ferguson as Ethel drawing the audience into the plot with stunning immediacy. The actors exhibited great chemistry with one another, with commendable performances from Jared Liebmiller and Suzanna Swanson-Johnston as the highly mismatched, yet touching couple, Ian and Fiona. Johnston’s drawling “yaaahs” and comic quips (“who even cuts mustard? It’s a liquid and its rank!”) were executed with much charisma. I found myself rooting for Fiona, despite her self-absorbed attitude and utterly egotistical outlook.

Complicated scene changes were choreographed with impressive fluidity, and costume and makeup did a great job of making the old look realistically old; the young realistically young. However, a sprawling cast with characters all demanding some development causes issues. Whilst the anecdotal nature of the play gave us a wonderful breadth of insights, sometimes I felt that story-lines weren’t given enough development time – ultimately leading to a weaker emotional response from the audience. AJ Brennan’s portrayal of Oscar was as sardonic as it was heart-wrenching, but his scene shared with Jack (Alexander Gillespie) stifled development of the former character’s narrative. The story-lines given individual time to unravel did so brilliantly. The exchange between Oscar and the cleaner in the hospital room was a slow and deliberate one which tugged at the heartstrings in a way a rush job can’t quite do. In general, the actors executed great comic timing without yet avoided misplaced wisecracks which may have detracted from the emotional cruxes.. Rather, the comedic elements added to the creation of a well-rounded show that gave the audience food for thought, but also showed us a good time.

Had Backbone been a dramatic failure, its innovative method of raising awareness for the bone marrow charity’s cause would have remained a success. When Jennifer Grace’s Delilah looked out into the audience and earnestly declared that one of us was likely to be a match, I couldn’t have felt any more aware. Luckily, great theatre came hand-in-hand with the soaring profile of a great cause. Kudos to Joanna Alpern and Katherine Weight, a formidable team.