By Matthew Sims
Who are we but a mixture of personalities, hopes, dreams and anxieties?
This is the question at the centre of a new play currently showing at Gemco Players Theatre in Emerald, with remaining shows on Friday 10 November at 7.30pm, Saturday 11 November at 2pm and 7.30pm and Sunday 12 November at 2pm.
Originally written by American playwright Olwen Wymark in 1977, ‘Find Me’ is based on a true story and follows the protagonist Verity Taylor as she is dealing with increasingly damaging mental health issues.
Verity’s family becomes fractured in their search for answers from a health system which does not have answers for Verity’s particular case and so doctors and other medical health practitioners find themselves unable to appropriately help.
Director Andrew Tomazos said the idea to perform the play came out of the Covid pandemic and the way in which a number of the themes resonated with him and current events.
“We were out of work for a while,” he said.
“We were looking at a number of scripts.
“It really kind of hit home a little bit.”
Tomazos said the play employed a technique known as ‘multi-characterisation’ wherein actors swap the main roles and work as an ensemble to find the true identity of the characters, with each of the eight cast members playing a number of different characters.
“It feels like an in-depth character study,” he said.
“The audience gets a different perspective of every character.
“It intentionally breaks the fourth wall.”
Tomazos said each of the actors discovered their aspects of each character via improvisation and exploration.
“It’s a very challenging concept to wrap your head around,” he said.
“Finding their own version of each character was a challenge.”
Tomazos said there were a number of scenes which were “very intense and very extreme”, dealing with isolation and mental illness.
“I thought it was going to be an important play to do,” he said.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.gemcoplayers.org.
