The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table

The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table is original, riveting theatre. It’s easy to see why Wesley Enoch’s play won the 2005 Patrick White Playwrights Award, because it’s poetic, searing, and wildly funny. As the evening progresses and layer upon layer of lies are stripped away, the dark DNA of the piece is exposed. There’s little real joy in this family with no room for sentiment. Enoch’s idea of using a ‘birth tree’ (a tree that in indigenous culture is chosen to give strength and wisdom), that is cut down and made into a kitchen table, allows him to sweep through five generations of one family as the table is handed down. In an extraordinary powerful performance, Leah Purcell as the mother Annie is mesmerizing. At times raw and vulgar, and at others incredibly vulnerable, she commands the stage and the play with a brilliance that is totally honest. She is one of our finest actors. In contrast, Roxanne McDonald as the grandmother, Faith, lacked passion. There’s more to the role than she allowed us to see, but Nathan Ramsay as the 35-year-old son, Nathan, was a strong match for Purcell. Both Purcell and McDonald have been with the play since it was first produced by Griffin and Hothouse Theatre Companies in Sydney in 2007. Purcell’s direction is sure, with Brendan O’Brien’s haunting music and sound design adding to the atmosphere. The stolen generation and homosexuality are themes that Enoch explores, but it is underage rape and its consequences that lie at the core of the piece. Excellent, abrasive theatre. It should not be missed!
Peter Pinne