There’s real magic in the moment after the house lights go down and the stage lights go up before a play begins. There’s a concert of rustled movement that slows and stops as we find our silence and attention and tune in together.
In The Spare Room, Belvoir’s new adaptation of Helen Garner’s 2008 novel, that small ritual becomes electric. Helen – played by the indomitable Judy Davis – watches us prepare to watch her, waiting us out until we settle in. She finds the first perfect moment of silence, nods, says “Right,” and the play begins.
