It seems poetic that in the same month that All About Women took place at the Sydney Opera House, a show such as Jumpy will also appear on its stage. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, considering it’s a play that explores feminism, parenting, the intergenerational gap between mother and daughter, and the naught often spoken about the female midlife crisis. The telling of stories about women of that age – and having them on centre stage – is sadly rare, which makes the hilarious Jumpy significant as well as entertaining. The BRAG spoke to actor Brenna Harding (Puberty Blues), who plays 15-year-old Tilly, about the Melbourne Theatre Company show and its cultural significance.
“Hilary [Jane Turner] is losing her youth and grappling with becoming an invisible woman in her 50s,” Harding explains. “She’s dissatisfied with a lot of the things in her life and worried that she’s lost a lot of the values she had when she was at Greenham Common fighting the feminist fight, especially now that her 15-year-old daughter is going out often, seeing a lot of boys and not caring about any of the values that have been so important to her.”
One of the most important aspects of the play is that it doesn’t shy away from exploring the complexity of feminism and parenting. Playwright April De Angelis shows that neither feminists nor parents are perfect.
“At the heart of it [Hilary] does still have those feminist convictions and values, but the real issue is imparting them upon her daughter,” Harding says. “At the same time, she is trying so hard to make sure her daughter is safe and a good kid, so sometimes she seems to lose sight of her daughter’s own sexual freedoms.”
Being that the relationship between Hilary and her teenage daughter sits at the centre of the play, I wonder how successful Harding thinks Jumpy is at portraying the intergenerational tensions between parents and children.
“I think the play accurately portrays one particular generational tension,” she says. “There are a lot out there and it would be a whole festival of plays if we were to explore every intricacy. It doesn’t really explore any racial or cultural tensions. The particular tension it’s exploring is to do with the feminist fight and the universal child breaking away from the parent and rebelling. I think it does a really good job of portraying that particular relationship.”
Another factor imperative to Jumpy is the comedy that’s not only peppered throughout the play, but is actively used to explore the serious themes of the narrative.
“If this play was a drama about these issues then nobody would want to come and see it, because it would just be so heartbreaking and too hard to watch,” laughs Harding. “I think the comedy of it has to be there to make light of what is a really serious issue for women.
“I think some women around Hilary’s age who come see it are quite profoundly affected. However, when we have older audience members, they find it absolutely hilarious because they can look at these issues in hindsight.
“But even with the comedy, it sometimes hits a little too close to home for some of those middle-aged women. It really highlights some of the little nuances of the family dynamic and that uncertain period of both adolescence and coming of age, which my character Tilly is going through, and that ageing and invisibility that Hilary is going through. It’s so true to the medium of comedy, which the writer April De Angelis does so well.”
Jumpy is on at theDrama Theatre, Sydney Opera House onThursday March 26 – Saturday May 16.
