The Yellow Wallpaper

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has been adapted by Silvia Lehmann and Teresa Izzard from the infamous, autobiographical tale of American feminist icon, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This 60-minute Gothic tale, which was written in only two days, is being presented by The Blue Room Theatre, in conjunction with Act Belong and Movementworks. It is being performed at the early time of 7.00 pm in The Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge nightly until Saturday 3^rd September. The show then travels down to the Civic Centre in Denmark for a single show on Saturday 10^th September. Produced by Teresa Izzard and Leigh Brennan, this play is supported by Curtin University and Denmark Arts.

After a terrible start in life, abandoned by her father, Charlotte’s Mother and siblings were left destitute in Pasadena. Her mother showed little affection. Charlotte found refuge in reading books, especially those in a list given by her father (whose sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ fame).

 
 

         Suffering from postnatal depression, Charlotte (Jo Morris) has been sent, by her very caring, but misguided GP husband, of four years, to an attic room in their disgusting rented house. Husband John (Sean Walsh) ‘knows’ that, on the cutting-edge advice of his friend Dr Weir Mitchell, the peace of the room for three months will help Charlotte regain her strength. In spite of Charlotte’s objections and pleadings, a husband always knows best.

          In this drab room, very quickly the depressed and withdrawn Charlotte developed an alter ego, Charlotte 2 (Sarah Nelson), a happy person who loved to write and appreciate life’s rich tapestry.

          The room had a beautiful view, the furnishings reasonably comfortable, but the wallpaper was a garish butter yellow colour and with a strange pattern printed on it.
As the days and weeks went past, Charlotte became very aware that this revolting wallpaper pattern actually had a face repeated in the design. The face had large eyes that stared at her every move. Eventually Charlotte discovered a second underlying pattern on this hideous peeling wallpaper and so Charlotte 2 went to investigate.

          Will John come to accept that the room has a problem? Will John find the book that Charlotte is secretly writing, describing the repression of woman by the male – ‘but one expects that in marriage’ - and the detrimental effect on her emotional wellbeing?
 
 

The story is reminiscent of ‘The Woman in Black’. It is set in the same period, with a similar creepy ghost-like ambience. The director, university lecturer Teresa Izzard and her assistant director, Emma D’Orazio, have created a wonderful atmosphere of tension, loathing and total frustration leading up to the final Gothic Monster.

The storyline is beautifully written, simple, but strongly intriguing; the strong cast captured the richly-layered script and its many intricacies producing a sincere insight to Charlotte’s mind.

There is a vast selection of carefully chosen music by the audiovisual dramaturg, Alex Brittan, giving a subtle background depth to the desired mood.

The set and costume design by Laura Heffernan was terrific. The room looked squalid and neglected, but most importantly the wallpaper, which at first glance looked like any poor quality wall covering, really had inbuilt magical properties. Adrianne Barba has faithfully copied the original pattern of the actual wallpaper. This detail has then been reconstructed by scenic artist, Sophie Dunning and her assistant Robert Patton, to produce the strangely repulsive room. The walls were peeling, flaking and covered anyone near them with a fine powder. The room also incorporated the ever-watching eyes.

The lighting design by Karen Cook was splendid, icy cold when the ghost was present, then changing from the bright yellow to a glowing blood red in the UV light (was this achieved with toluene or paint thinner?), before becoming translucent, allowing us to see the happenings within the walls. A radiant atmosphere.

In today’s more enlightened environment, Charlotte’s treatment seems incredible, little surprise that she became a staunch feminist. This is a play of atmosphere and feelings, a fresh and welcome change to the ‘sameness’ of so many plays.

It is 76 years to the day since Charlotte committed suicide.