June: a monologue about not speaking
By Patrick McCarthy
26 July – 5 August
Theatreworks
After spending a year in silence, June invites an audience into her world. At times charming, at others shimmering with rage, she arrives fully formed but alters at will. A gentle and challenging play about moving through the world and finding a voice that fits who you have become.
Writer: Patrick McCarthy
Director: Emily Tomlins
Cast: Caroline Lee
Dramaturgy (text): Morgan Rose
Designer: Zoe Rouse
Lighting Designer: Lisa Mibus
Sound Designer: Jess Keeffe
Stage Management: Rosemary Osmond
Movement Consultant: Devika Bilimoria
Photo: Jodie Hutchinson
“Caroline Lee is masterful as June. Dressed sensibly in a jumper, slacks and trainers, her presence is warm but brittle, a sort of embodiment of the chain of intimacy, vulnerability and the pain she describes at one point. There is something birdlike about Lee, skittish but wise, and at ease in her own body. She fills the space without dominating it, a dance lent an expansive but fine-drawn physicality by movement consultant Devika Bilimoria. We feel, at every turn, the weight of June’s grief and alienation, but it is never belaboured. When Lee tells us, her fingers wedging her eyelids open, that even the pupils and irises can reveal our agedness, it is hard not to believe her.”
Arts Hub
“Silence can be eloquent, and anyone who’s had the pleasure of watching Caroline Lee perform onstage over the years will know how expressive she can be without uttering a word. She is a natural choice for Patrick McCarthy’s offbeat monodrama June, in which the titular character finally speaks, having withdrawn into monastic silence for a whole year…A delicate sense of comedy is key to what becomes an intimate and lightly meta-theatrical reflection on voice and voicelessness, and Lee’s buoyant presence builds a sparkling eccentricity while guiding the character’s reflections on unspoken depths…it’s an intricate solo performance, tackling a complex internal landscape, and some desolating themes, with humour and poignancy.”
The Age
