As I walked into the Brisbane Powerhouse theatre to watch Letters to Lindy, directed by Darren Yap and a Merrigong Theatre Company & Canberra Theatre Centre Production, I immediately noticed the beautiful set on the stage. I looked at the blue and white tones of the structure and the few lamps that were lit, it seemed a comfortable space. As I sat waiting for the performance to start, I noticed something on the stage that I had not noticed earlier. There was a pile of letters on the floor of Lindy’s room, how had I not seen that straight away? The subtlety was perfect, and I was glad that it was there. It reminded me that with the theatre, our own eyes are the lenses we view the stage with, not through camera angles and quick editing such as with cinema.
As the performance began, I started to absorb this calm and interesting interior until all of a sudden, via lighting and sound effects, I jumped out of my seat in shock. Three troll-like characters, a middle-aged man and woman and an older gentleman, appeared out of what appeared to be nowhere, and began to hound Lindy Chamberlain, played by Jeanette Cronin. The three characters shouted at and bullied Chamberlain, yelling through the blinds of her home or lurking around her home environment, representing the far more cruel letter-writers.
What a terrifying experience it must have been, and these ‘trolls’ played their roles very well, convincing to the point that when they appeared again to play other roles, such as narrating a far nicer letter, it was hard to believe these were still the same people. All three characters did an excellent
There are many strengths to this performance, such as reusing the actors to play multiple characters, and in particular those that have written letters to Lindy. As you may already know by the title, the piece focuses on the thousands of letters that Lindy received from the public, however, not all are kind or sympathetic to her situation which included being perceived as a murderer to her own child verses her recount of her baby being stolen by a dingo. The strongest element was the ‘troll’ characters that spoke angrily and acted cruelly towards Chamberlain.
The show offers twists and turns with a dramatic climax that leads to Cronin declaring her own personal truth. This moment in time is very important and powerful in that without this we would not realise the core to this particular character. The chronological story build-up was also significant throughout as the audience could witness Chamberlain and her journey as well as her relationship with the public, and Cronin’s portrayal was spot-on.
The performance was powerful and haunting as Chamberlain/Cronin proved to a living audience, that in fact maybe they don’t have all the facts, and maybe neither does Lindy. No one will ever know the Chamberlain story better than Lindy herself. It goes to show that how people react shows more about the person than it does about Lindy.
1st - 4th August, 2018
Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre
Review by: Joanna Letic