This experimental theatre and movement piece from Melbourne performer Oliver Ayres wants to do two things: to make the audience (of only one) ‘feel exceptionally safe’ and to convey the fear and confusion of becoming suddenly, seriously ill. It does both, with a gentle, radical kind of care.
Before the performance begins, Ayres chats softly and patiently fusses over his one viewer, offering to adjust lighting, volume, making sure they are comfortable in the single hospital bed. He is actor, nurse and parent, transferring vulnerability and trepidation onto his crowd, waiting under embroidered hospital sheets. The storytelling is calm and reflective, but unsettling. We are immersed into the unknown; a weird storm of life threatening symptoms, coupled with the curveball created because Ayres was a recently post-op trans man. Although the details stay sparse, Ayres goes into more detail at the end, of being refused A&E treatment by a transphobic member of staff.
There are overlaps with current discussions around Sandie Peggie’s employment tribunal, raising questions of what a duty of care really means. The power of Ayres’ show is in his pauses for reflection on illness, care and grief, making sure it’s a place both for Ayres to talk and his audience to think.
I’m Ready to Talk Now, Traverse Theatre, until 24 Aug (not 18, 21), various times