A beautiful journey through love, loss and identity
A fantastic thought-provoking musical is currently being staged at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.
Fun Home is a wonderful production which combines pathos, music and a bit of comedy drama thrown in for good measure.
The musical, which is more of a stage play, centres on the true life of Alison Bechdel as she comes to terms with coming out amidst the chaos of her upbringing in a funeral home in Pennsylvania with her two brothers, mum and dad.
Unbeknownst to her, her father is also gay, and often spends time away from his family looking for relationships, which breaks his wife’s heart and leaves the family worried about their future.
This play follows the transformation of Alison from little girl, to medium Alison at university and then the narrating cartoonist Alison, who is in her early 40s.
Narrating Alison, played by Jodie McNee, is the all-seeing voice of the play, who goes on to explain what is happening, what she was feeling at the time and, looking back, how she could have done things differently.
Medium Alison, played by Alice Audrey O’Hanlon, depicts the lead role as a sensitive being as she comes to terms with coming out to her parents, and also her own self-realisation that she is gay. O’Hanlon has a beautiful, melodic singing voice, which is clear and lilting.
(L to R) Harriet O’Shea (Small Alison) and Alex Young (Helen Bechdel) in Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Picture Johan Persson.
But, the star of the three Alisons for me, was definitely Harriet O’Shea, who played Small Alison on the night.
O’Shea was a feisty firecracker and was the perfect choice for Small Alison. She had boundless energy, a commanding singing voice, and an acting repertoire that was way beyond her years.
She received the most whoops and cheers on the night, especially when she combined with her ‘siblings’ John, played by Reuben Shepherd, and Christian, played by Theo Wake, in the witty, energetic, titular song, Fun Home.
Behind all the fun and merriment of the children, lay the heartbreaking relationship of the father, Bruce Bechdel, played by Nigel Harman, with his children and his wife, Helen, played by Alex Young.
Front (L to R) Theo Wake (Christian), Reuben Shepherd (John) and Harriet O’Shea (Small Alison). Back (L to R) Alex Young (Helen Bechdel) and Nigel Harman (Bruce Bechdel) in Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Harman was perfect as the man not knowing what he wanted from life, whether professionally as a funeral director, teacher, or in his personal life.
You could feel the pain of the married couple as Bruce would leave his wife for the night while she was left behind to comfort the children.
Bruce struggles to have any meaningful relationship with his children and wants to control how they behave, act and even their own imaginative take on life. It is when the children are left to their own devices that we see them behaving like children and having ‘fun’.
The tangled life of Bruce ultimately ends in tragedy, with Alison wondering if she could have spoken to her father about his feelings.
The autobiographical, tragi-musical Fun Home is definitely one to watch. Everyone on stage acts their socks off in a poignant adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of the same name.
It is so good, I think I will pop along to the Royal Exchange to watch it again.
Fun Home is on stage at the Royal Exchange until August 1.
Review by Charlotte Williams
(L to R) Nigel Harman (Bruce Bechdel) and Harriet O’Shea (Small Alison) in Fun Home. Picture Johan Persson.jpg
