In 1962 Sydney Australia, 15 year old Calynn falls pregnant and is suddenly thrust into a cruel world of punishment and condemnation.
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, is a lovely hub with a diverse range of activities for why one might find themselves there. Last night I saw the new play ‘Inferna’ written and directed by Madison Cole.
Inferna begins in Sydney Australia in 1962, and although a period piece, this felt like a fresh time and place to explore. The play is centred around Calynn, an innocent 15 year old girl, sheltered from the world she is about to learn about. Calynn soon becomes pregnant and with zero hesitation her mother sends her to a church run asylum for pregnant women. The asylum is quite an ambiguous entity throughout the play. An explanation is not always necessary of the workings of this place but the production lacked atmosphere, leaving me confused on how we should feel inside this hospital.
The play is however, well written. Cole has a very tight first act and weaves through gorgeous motifs throughout her script. It is an achievement to have adapted historical events this seamlessly, however I feel there is no need to play so close to the fact or realism I feel that Inferna would’ve felt a more thrilling piece if the production took certain elements further than they allow. Without this, I felt the play was consistently dull. It has some lovely moments of horror, with running biblical and satanic themes, but it felt lacklustre in its exploration of this and the production does not service these elements. The story is horrifying but I felt it was told in such a reserved way that it didn’t truly resonate with me. I felt that many moments required more attention to the sound design as some periods of silence felt unintentional and the energy dropped.
The entire cast is very strong. Alice Pryor brought heaps of compassion to her performance. She has an enticing look of terror throughout the entirety of the play and it matched the stake every time she entered. Gracie Oddie-James perfectly fits into this story. Her very strong performance is definite in knowing what her character needed to bring and it won the hearts if the audience. All the actors brought a lot to the space, however I would say there are one too many characters here, overcrowding the story and diminishing some of the needed tension and claustrophobia.
The play has a lot of potential. It is an eyeopening story that should be told, however I feel it needs more time to grow. For now, this is still an entertaining and valuable piece of theatre. For me, it is quite frustrating to witness such outdated and derogatory views on sex, assault and misogyny on stage. This was and still is many women’s experience, however we spent a lot of time with characters passively degrading women but we never truly witnessed traumatising effects of this. It felt at time there was a lack of catharsis as I’d rather be let into Calynn’s frustration, rather than spending so much time with small minded and uncharitable characters.
Inferna plays at Riverside Studios until Wednesday 5th February. It is a lovely space and an entertaining piece of theatre, which I feel will grow further into it’s run.