Iolite is a piece of new writing with a number of songs with strong lyrics, well-sung here by the female members of the cast.
The story flits around from Iolite’s childhood, to a young adult in a relationship, through that relationship break-up and her trying to move on.
The common theme is of Iolite being bullied by people she loves and who purport to love her. Her mother, who goes through mood swings, does her best to lower Iolite's self-esteem by shouting at her. There is one particularly interesting song reflecting on how the playground pal can grow up to be an aggressive adult, but in truth he was probably the one that pulled pigtails and got away with it. The nice pal grows up to be the thoughtful boss who finds himself coming off second best.
There is a bit of violence in this piece related to the control that many men seem to need to have over a partner. The show packs a lot into 50 minutes.
The cast members are very credible in their performance although ideally the young Iolite could have looked more like ten years of age. The singing voice made up for that and indeed the adult Iolite, her best friend, and the girl out to steal the boyfriend all are very good while ‘Steve’ as the bully and ‘Nick’ as the boss also come across well.
The music is provided by keyboard and cello, but it is the latter that gives the music a haunting sound.
The piece needs more development as it is a bit jumpy, but I'm not sure how the writer can achieve this.
Runs to 22 August (not 16), 4.05pm.