QPAC and the Brisbane Festival reached deep into the magic cauldron and thrust Bryony Kimmings with her new piece I’m a Phoenix, Bitch upon us! An amazing rollercoaster of emotions, happiness, sadness, self-agony, pure lunacy, bleak soul baring isolationism and in the blink of an eye Bryony lights up a self-deprecating, somewhat sinister, smile knowing she is the only mermaid on the lonely rock with a seashell filled with popcorn.
It takes enormous inner strength and adroit emotional intelligence to be able to turn your own nightmares into a therapeutic journey, to publicly set fire to them and in a controlled experiment to release them and to still be able to reknit the frayed ends of sanity into a shawl and find comfort and solace in it. Bryony could do this. This performer draws deeply upon her own recent times experiencing a relationship disintegration (the actual breakup occurring in a hospital car park) whilst wrestling with the dark shadows of postnatal depression and being spiritually and emotionally intertwined with her desperately ill child.
Bryony used symbolic props to draw the audience in as close to her as possible letting them experience her feelings without being levelled by them (a very fine wire she walked and at times almost fell off) and shriek at the unexpected gems in some of the many original songs
she wrote for this solo play. Quite often I felt the charming realism of the insightful all-knowing moments of innate feminine wisdom which resonate as clearly as a bell. It is Bryony’s skill and intuition which elevates her and her wordsmithery above the madding crowd and places her in a field of her own. She is an amazing treasure. She makes that bell ring.
The audience was at my guess over 90% female and from the many sighs and giggles and poignant silences many audience members deeply identified with many aspects of Bryony’s journey. They applauded her bravery, supported her solo navigation through the maudlin
isles of darkness, revelled in her strength of character and championed her personal Phoenix in its triumphant ascension from the ashes. What was supposed to be a 90 minute piece stretched to 100 minutes. I have no complaints.
Bryony received a standing ovation and said “ I ran over time – sorry – I get carried away”. She then said “ I don’t know anyone in Brisbane but my brother is flying in to meet me on Saturday – so if you see any of your friends – tell them to come see the show.” How beautiful. It was fascinating catching snippets of conversations from people as the audience left the theatre – they were spellbound and will be back to see her when next she is with us. Brilliant work, a must see!
18 - 21 September, 2019
QPAC, Playhouse Theatre
By Donald Gunn