REVIEW: We’ve Got So Much To Talk About (Basement Theatre)

[Release the Soundtrack]

Created by Sally Stockwell with direction from Julia Harvie, We’ve Got So Much To Talk About is a defiant cry, is catharsis, is a manifesto, is a release. 

Billed as a ‘theatre-gig’, We’ve Got So Much To Talk About explores Stockwell’s life and career through a mixture of explosive songs, colliding images of motherhood, and intimate stories. 

Possessing a fantastic singing voice, Stockwell ranges from Siouxsie Sioux strength to Grimes otherworldliness. The original songs, performed live and supported by multi-instrumentalist Chris Marshall, are more than just thematically relevant – they serve to continue the symbolically rich discussion of motherhood and the embedded question of what it means to be a woman. 

Images of womanhood abound. The maiden is present, as is the mother, the woman who is dissected during sex and during childbirth, the woman who is too old to play a mother, and the crone. Props are used to great effect with cutlery making its most meaningful appearance on stage in a century, and a vacuum cleaner becomes an antagonistic presence. 

Each personal memory shared onstage gestures to the hopes, fears, and stifling expectations women the world over carry as they move through life. All is expressed with a passion and gritty determination to carve her own path. Even in the moments which travel towards the territory of self-doubt Stockwell is an unflinching presence, always pushing against and questioning the aforementioned expectations.

As the promotional material for the show states, there are not necessarily answers to be found here, instead expressive movement and striking music offer the opportunity to ponder motherhood through the lens of this mother. If anything the show ends too abruptly – there would be room and audience appetite for more as the colliding images only begin to scratch the surface of the themes explored. But perhaps that is the best place to leave an audience – wanting more. 

We’ve Got So Much To Talk About is produced by Alice Kirker and was made with support from Creative New Zealand and Ōtautahi Tiny Festival. We’ve Got So Much To Talk About plays at the Basement 16 August – 20 August.