Finale.
Written and directed by Tracy
Bourne. Featuring Moya Simpson with John Black at the piano and Jonathan “Jonesy”
Jones on percussion Designer Nyx
Matthews. Lighting designer James Tighe. Sound designer Ben Marston. Lighting
operatot John Carberry. Poster design. Mel Stanger (The Changesmiths).
Assistants: Emma English. Liliane Alblas. The Main Hall. Ainslie Arts Centre. July
12-15 2023
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
How does an ageing entertainer
cope with the fears that lurk in the shadow behind the façade? Do they sing the
songs of yesteryear? Do they tell jokes, impersonating WC Fields or recounting
corny punchlines? Do they panic as they feel the loss of control, the longing
for the sureness of youth and the memory
of times past? Finale, written and
directed by Tracy Bourne is a tale of pathos as the entertainer (Moya Simpson)
clings to a talent that recalls a past glory now fading in the final years. In
her first solo show, Simpson exhibits an emotional depth that affirms her
strength as an actor. Canberra audiences are only too aware of her abilities as
a singer, on show again in this dramatic performance, but it is the first time
that we have seen her attempt to perform an hour long show conceived and
written by Tracy Bourne in the main hall of the Ainslie Arts Centre.
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| Percussionist Jonathan "Jonesy" Jones and Moya Simpson in FINALE |
The audience enters before a stage cluttered with bric a brac, remnants of a past with all the trappings of an opportunity shop. The collection too is a trove of used and discarded items, Dressed in a green penitentiary styled tracksuit that one might find in an institution , Simpson welcomes the audience, thanks them for coming and offers them free glasses of bubbly.
The tone of the show is set with
a plaintive rendition, unaccompanied of the Bee Gees’ I Started a Joke. But the tick tock of the clock is a timely
reminder of fleeting time and the entertainer changes into an opshop silver
lame dress to recall her career as a singer . An unsuspecting audience member
(John Black) is dragged up to play the piano while John “Jonesy” Jones grabs an
assorted collection of unlikely items to create an imaginative percussion
accompaniment. With a heavy tone of cynicism Simpson sways to Peggy Lees’ Is That All There Is? Not quite. Simpson
demonstrates her versatility, at times with a twangy Hank Williams song, I’ll never get out of this world alive or Tom Waits’ God’s Away on Business and Nick Cave’s and Mick Harvey’s Mercy Seat. It is the raw vulnerability of emotional truth that Simpson
can evoke in her song. At the end of her show she reaches the nirvana of resignation.
Her solace is in her song as she invites her audience to celebrate life in song
with the Amanda Palmer’s Sing. This
is her final evocation of the triumph over fear of the fading years and of the
critics of her song. Simpson finishes her performance with a note of defiant
hope. As a final act of resilience Simpson conducts her audience in uplifting
choral unison. Many are members of Simpson’s choirs and they join in her final chorus, before bursting into applause. The
singer is among friends.
It is the variety of Simpson’s
songlist and the versatility of her voice that makes me want to see her in a
tightly constructed drama. Finale is
at times loosely connected and exposing the weaknesses of a devised work that
has not been directed tightly enough. Costume changes behind a screen hold up
the flow of the work and some of the material and stage business appears
unnecessary. At one point the entire audience is asked to move to the other
side of the hall where insufficient seats have been set up, leaving some
members standing. The continuity of the show suffers and Simpson must work
harder to restore the focus. It is to her credit that her character’s emotional
strength is powerful enough to engage her audience..
All in all though, Finale gives Simpson the opportunity to
extend and exhibit her talent in her own one woman show and for an audience to
enjoy Canberra’s own doyen celebrate song’s healing power.