On a beautiful Sunday in a suburb of Boston, Elly, Gayle and Jen drink whiskey, willing their problems to disappear before their abhorred housemate Jessica returns.
The acclaimed play Sunday on the Rocks by Theresa Rebeck receives a new display at the Bread and Roses Theatre, taking this much-admired piece that had Rebeck regaled as the ‘voice of a generation’ and repositioning it for the intimate space of a pub theatre.
It is a beautiful, sunny day in a quiet suburb of Boston, U.S.A. Elly, Gayle, and Jen have decided that the best way to spend this idyllic Sunday morning is to drink some whiskey. Or, rather, a lot of whiskey. They are housemates, and each are facing their own obstacle. Elly is pregnant and pondering an abortion, Gayle feels lost, constantly forced to be the peacekeeper in the group, and Jen is being relentlessly harassed by a co-worker who wants a romantic partnership, but whom Jen considers to be nothing more than a friend. Tensions are exacerbated by the looming presence of Jessica, the fourth housemate. While Elly, Gayle, and Jen are forthright regarding their flaws, Jessica presents herself as a perfect human being living a picturesque life. A devout Catholic and certified perfectionist, Jessica is at best misunderstood by most of the housemates, and at worst, actively despised. Her only ally is Gayle, who consistently tries to bridge the gap between Jessica and Elly and Jen.
As the morning turns into afternoon, Elly, Jen, and Gayle have made their way through a significant amount of whiskey and have objectively trashed the living room. Their individual obstacles have also heightened in tension. Suddenly, Jessica is home from church, sending the group into a total downward spiral. Things begin to unravel to an unprecedented degree, and even Jessica’s veneer of perfection begins to falter.
The cast, made up of Candace Leung (Elly), Rachael Bellis (Gayle), Olivia Gibbs-Fairley (Jen), and Julie Cheung-Inhin (Jessica) graced the small space of The Bread and Roses theatre with an exciting performance. They carried this arguably lengthy play with zeal. Though they occasionally seemed to be a bit shaky on their lines, they displayed honest and grounded performances. Rachael Bellis, who also served as the production’s director, utilised the space cleverly, with entrances and exits conducted through the actual theatre’s door, including the audience in the play’s action beyond the limits of the proscenium stage.