When a theatre group’s acronym makes the sound of a kiss; (MWAH stands for Mature Women’s Actors’ Hub), you know seeing their performances is going to be fun.
MWAH’s latest play: Dear Goddess, was a celebration of how women navigate the challenging changes of a lifetime and it was fun.
In this second original show by the newish Sunshine Coast theatre troupe, mortal women and girls wrote to seven goddesses (who specialise in areas like poetry, growth, wine and death) for advice on how to handle challenges like puberty, bullies, motherhood, menopause and men.
The goddesses read questions from mortal women. PHOTO: supplied
The goddesses dished out advice that can only come from women of certain ages (like the cast aged 54 to 84) with responses full of the gentle strength, humour and practicality that comes with age.
The goddesses were not agony aunts: they were ‘divine midwives of transformation’ and they were having a lot of fun.
Artistic Director Sharon Hogan told the audience some MWAH actors were on stage for the first time, performing in a play developed over three months with a script only six weeks old.
Navigating change
Some of the women, perhaps going through their own changes, wept through the first couple of workshops. And then perhaps they laughed because Dear Goddess uses a light hand with a heavy theme of how to navigate the unstoppable changes that come with age.
The Goddess of Death triumphantly told a 12-year-old mortal girl that the puberty the girl wanted to avoid was ‘the first step toward death’ with comic timing that took out the sting.
One actor described menopause and hot flushes as ‘my own personal climate change’.
The show was presented in a glittering jazz lounge in a cosmos full of blingy goddesses softening the disappointments of life with glamour and song.
The goddesses were very blingy in the MWAH universe. PHOTO: Leonie Shanahan
The cast burst into inspirational songs at key moments and the show had a Menopause the Musical vibe, although Dear Goddess also looked at birth, motherhood, sex, beauty, love, separation and cognitive decline.
Their exuberant performance drew to a close with a solemn moment, when one of the Goddesses read the Herman Hesse poem Stufen (Steps) in expressive German while a second actor translated into English those uplifting words:
The heart must submit itself courageously
to life’s call without a hint of grief,
A magic dwells in each beginning,
protecting us, telling us how to live.
In Dear Goddess, the deities show the mortals how to live with wisdom, wit and a wicked sense of humour.
Giving mature women a voice
Perhaps even more importantly, Dear Goddess gives mature women a voice and the women used their voices to shout, ‘we are not done yet’.
Possibly a message many women over 50, (and some men) can relate to.
The two matinee shows sold out and the audience I joined at Cooran Memorial Hall on Sunday clearly loved the show, clapping, singing along and laughing uproariously.
Community theatre
This audience response: the full houses, the hearty applause, the laughter and perhaps a tear or two, might be the mark of success of any community theatre performance.
Community theatre ignites community engagement, well-being, human connection and positive social impact. Supporting communities to tell their own stories develops the skills, community spirit and artistic skills of those who participate, on or off the stage.
Looking around at radiant faces and shiny eyes on and off stage, it was clear that MWAH and Dear Goddess met the brief.
Outside the hall, the charming Sunshine Coast hinterland township of Cooran came alive and buzzed with the crowd who came to see Dear Goddess, proof of how activating the arts in regional areas pays social and economic dividends to those with the stamina, courage and creativity to make it happen.
Bravo.
PHOTO of goddess at top of story: supplied
