Gwen in Purgatory

First published on 29 Sep 2009. Updated on 5 Apr 2011.

The writer of the smash-hit Holding the Man takes a satirical look at ageing in Gwen and Purgatory.

An elderly woman fumbles with a collection of remote controls, struggling to establish which works what in her brand new suburban apartment. Unpacked boxes and plastic-wrapped furniture occupy the stagnant, lonely space in which the final stages of Gwen's 90-year life are to unfold. In the ensuing "family firestorm", her dysfunctional relatives clamber for control of their matriarch's estate, while a bewildered Nigerian priest attempts to retain some decorum through religious ritual.

This is Gwen in Purgatory, a product of the Philip Parsons Award for emerging playwrights. With the support of Belvoir Street Theatre's Company B, each year a promising young dramatist is commissioned to write a new theatre piece. Tommy Murphy was given the prize for 2007 following his hugely successful stage adaptation of Timothy Conigrave's novel, Holding the Man.

"This task was far more intuitive," he says of the creative contrast between adaptation and original work. "This play arrived character first. I had this room, and I started to find people in it."

Those people and their environment appear very much inspired by their author's own life experience as an Irish Catholic and Queanbeyan native. Murphy's protagonist, Gwen (Melissa Jaffer), clings to her relationship with the crumbling Catholic church in that edge-of-Canberra town. "Usually, I chicken out and change the name [of the city]," Murphy says. Thankfully, the town stayed put this time to provide an ironically vast backdrop to Gwen's claustrophobic entrapment.

The decline of Catholicism in Australia has prompted an influx of papal recruits from developing nations. Researching the trend, Murphy discovered an epidemic of homesickness among these neo-missionaries, who are confronted by an ageing and dwindling congregation. "They're struggling to know how to reach their communities," he says. As such, the character of Father Ezekiel, played by Pacharo Mzembe, battles with unfamiliar surroundings much like Gwen in her newfound ‘purgatory'.
Running in real time as a single, unbroken scene, the play evokes a strong sense of inertia. Though it's essentially a realist story, Murphy points to the absurdity of Gwen's inability to accomplish seemingly basic tasks amidst a whirlwind of frantic, impatient family members. "Technology has moved on, and there's a sense that her church might leave her at the cruellest moment - during this twilight of her life."

Gwen's children Peg (Sue Ingleton) and Laurie (Grant Dodwell) bicker over household minutiae, while grown-up grandchild Daniel (Nathaniel Dean) skirts uncomfortable discussion of his imminent marriage breakdown. Coupled with Gwen's tribulations with technology - "...I've used the oven manual for the air conditioner and I'm roasting myself alive!" - Murphy's comic dialogue tugs on familiar heartstrings: "Family makes us laugh and touches us," he says, "but can also be very damaging."

Murphy, whose play Saturn's Return was staged at the Sydney Theatre Company last year, admits that he's based a few of Gwen's characters on real-life acquaintances. "I don't mind if they're there [in the audience]," he laughs. "Just as long as their lawyers aren't." Alecia Wood