I have seen a lot of politically based theatre of late. Much of it has been good. I definitely broke the trend when I went to see Rebecca Clarke’s autobiographical play ‘Unspoken’ at the Old Fitzroy. This was theatre of the personal and intimate kind.

For her first play, Clarke who has established a career as an actress, has written a play about growing up in a family with a brother who was severely disabled. At 8 months old, her only brother was diagnosed with epilepsy, osteoporosis, and cerebral palsy. In under an hour of stage time, Clarke shares with her painful experience with audiences.

There was one quality above all else that stood about ‘Unspoken’, and that was its sheer honesty. Her story described how her family tried to protect itself from the disabled offspring, and to keep some of their energy for themselves. Her journey shows how she grew up healthy bodied and as soon as she could she left home to make her own way in the world, and tried to put feelings about her brother behind her. As she made her own way in the world, guilt feelings kept coming up within her, and then she chose to go back home, and finally spend some time with her brother before he passed away. It is then that ‘Unspoken’ has its most heartbreaking scene. Footage from an old home video is projected onto a stage wall showing Clarke spending time with her brother at home. It was one of those ‘chill up one’s spine’ scenes.

‘Unspoken’ has been some three years in the making. This is the amount of time that Clarke and her director Wayne Blair have been working on it through numerous workshopping and creative processes. The amount of work and love put into the project has brought great results. ‘Unspoken’ was an important piece of theatre, with Clarke sharing her humble journey and increasing our understanding.