The Fallen Tree

Hannah (Libby Gott) is gathering twigs and branches into a pile on the stage, her cheeks smudged with dirt and her ears tuned to the cries of birds flying at night. The opening scenes are haunting, particularly as we know that Hannah has survived Black Saturday. It’s painful to look at the charred branches in her hands and think of what she has seen, and lost. Her neighbour Claire (Bridgette Burton), also a survivor of the fires, arrives just in time to convince Hannah not to set fire to the debris and risk another catastrophe.

From this promising start, The Fallen Tree moves away from the fires into an increasingly disturbing story about child abuse. We learn that Hannah’s sister, who is never seen or heard, was the victim of brutal abuse at the hands of her stepfather (played by Jonathon Dyer). The bushfire story is completely overtaken by the child abuse issue, and the fires stand as more of a metaphor for the damage that abuse brings to children and families.

Despite some strong and evocative performances, particularly from Libby Gott as Hannah, the characters are neither engaging nor developed enough to carry the heavy subject matter. Hannah is understandably troubled and angry, having witnessed her sister’s abuse. But I was much more interested in her relationship with her absent sister and how that was going to survive. This is not explored in the play. Instead, we see Hannah’s interactions with her monstrous stepfather, and with her detached neighbour, Claire. I also wanted to know more about Hannah’s hard-working mum who died at some point in the past not knowing, or admitting that she knew, about her daughter’s abuse. The play has omitted two of the most interesting characters: Hannah’s sister and mum. The one person who should be given a voice – the one who has suffered the most – is Hannah’s sister.

The final image, like the opening scene, is evocative and a fitting metaphor for grief but too many questions remain to give the audience a sense of hope.

Sara Bannister