TIKTBT TEAM "Chart"

Tension: 

• There is a conflict for each character in the show 

• Tension between family members or one family member vs. the rest of the family 

• ROSIE: 

• Rosie is returning from her solo trip in Europe. She is disappointed with herself because she expected to meet new people and have the time of her life and grow up and become a new person. Instead she was mostly lonely and missing her family, who in her eyes were beautiful and probably not perfect but were the world to her. She returns heartbroken after she thinks she has met the love of her life but he instead steals her things and leaves her. She doesn’t want to seem foolish to her family who all expected to be gone for longer; she doesn’t want to admit that they were right in that she would be lonely traveling by herself. This is part of Rosie’s inner conflict, she feels naive (and she is) and stupid for failing at her attempts to seem grown up to her family. 

• At the end of the show, Rosie has finally figured out what she wants to pursue and tells her parents she is moving by herself to Brisbane. This is a conflict because up until this point Rosie has been the closest with both her parents and has supported all of her other siblings through their own conflicts as well as her parents. Rosie seems to almost be the glue that barely holds the family together, and her leaving is a shock to her parents that truly tells them that their kids really are all grown up. 

• There is overriding tension between each of the family members and Rosie because they are all constantly telling her to grow up and stop being young and naive, yet she cannot help it. She is the youngest child of the family (only 19) and she is the most easy going and supportive. She seems to view life and her family with rose colored glasses (established in the very start of the show) so when all of the other family conflicts arise it is all the more startling because of Rosie’s perspective in the start of the show. This makes the entire show almost seem like it’s all from Rosie’s point of view, even though she is not necessarily the main character. In fact, she is a mere support, or in the middle of all of the other family conflicts 

• PIP: 

• Pip’s major conflict is between her and Fran. Pip is no longer in love with her husband so she takes a job in Vancouver and leaves her husband and her kids. It is revealed that Pip has another love interest in Vancouver that is also married with kids. Pip sees this as a forbidden love, and it hurts her to hurt her husband and her kids and her family, but she decides that she can’t force herself to be unhappy in a loveless marriage. Pip already appears to have a strained relationship with Fran–Pip is the oldest child and the oldest daughter, and Fran says that Pip is the most like herself: stubborn and rowdy and tough. When Pip tells Fran that she is leaving her family for Vancouver, her mother is outraged that she would leave her children. Fran insists that as a mother she doesn’t have a choice and she must stay in Australia; Fran has not revealed this yet, but Pip seems to know that Fran was at one time in this same situation. Pip leaves and writes a letter to Fran discussing their relationship and the truth about her life in Vancouver. It is evident that Pip and Fran truly love each other but that their relationship is very strained and has been for a long time, this conflict is just the peak or the breaking point in their relationship. 

• MIA (formerly Mark):

• Mia’s major conflict is when she comes out to her family as a transgender woman. Mia reveals that she has known for 20 years that she is a woman and has not been able to tell her family. The entire family is shocked, especially Bob and Fran. The parents expected Mia to come out as gay, but instead Mia opens up to her family about her true identity. Mia doesn’t really have high expectations for her family’s reaction, but she is still hopeful that they will try to understand. The overall response from her family is very negative. Rosie seems to still love and support Mia, but she is angry that Mia never told her before then. Mia puts Rosie in her place, telling her that this situation is not about her. Both Fran and Bob are at first shocked and believe that Mia must just be confused, but Mia goes on that she has known for a very long time and she has gotten professional support in her decision to begin hormone therapy. At this moment, Fran and Bob both refuse to accept Mia for who she is, with Bob going as far as telling Mia that this is a choice she cannot make and begs her to not do this, to hide herself for her family. For Mia, this is impossible. Mia has held in so much pain hiding herself and stifling her feelings for two decades; she has hurt herself so much to keep from hurting her family. At this point, it has become too much (as it would become for anyone) and she can’t keep hurting herself, even if telling her family is going to hurt them and hurt herself some too. When Mia leaves, although it is not explained, it seems as though some of this tension is resolved, given that Bob drives Mia to the airport and gives her an intimate hug and kiss to show his love. 

• BEN: 

• Ben’s conflict revolves around his career. Ben returns to the family house completely distraught and in a raging panic. He nearly attacks Rosie, who tries to comfort him. All of this happens on Bob and Fran’s anniversary. Bob and Fran enter the stage and see Ben accosting Rosie and pull him back, demanding him to explain what’s wrong. Ben tells them that he has stolen $250,000 from his job and an investigation has begun at work; if he is caught, he will go to jail. Ben explains that he succumbed to the pressure to be as rich and elite as his coworkers and became so jealous that he did something so terrible as to steal a huge sum of money. Ben’s jealousy surrounding money, class, and status likely stem from growing up in a working class family with parents who gave everything to their kids and spent their whole lives providing for them with little to spare. Fran is immediately sympathetic to Ben (Ben appears to be her favorite child, or at least the child that she coddles the most) but Bob is livid and nearly attacks Ben. Ben is so distraught that he begins to slap his own face, which is unsettling to the audience. Fran reveals that she has some of her own money saved up that she can use to save Ben and stop him from going to jail. Bob does not know about this money (this leads to the conflict between Bob and Fran) and even after he finds out he insists that Fran cannot clean up Ben’s mess and he insists that they should let him get in trouble. This is the first time Bob is seen truly outraged at one of his children on his own (when he was upset with Mia he was on equal footing with Fran) and contrasts his otherwise loving and emotionally open personality. 

• FRAN and BOB: 

• Although Fran and Bob are involved in all of their children’s conflicts, their biggest conflict between the two of them is that Fran admits to Bob that she saved up her money to provide an out for herself in case she ever did leave Bob and was on her own. She admits that she fell out of love with Bob a long time ago, but never left him because she thought it was the best thing for her family and her kids. She was even in love with another man (one of her patients) but never committed to the relationship because she felt obligated to stay with Bob. Bob reveals that he could tell that Fran was withdrawn at that time in their relationship so he purposefully got her pregnant with their unplanned and last child Rosie. He thought it would bring them closer together. Fran breaks Bob’s heart by telling him that she just stopped being in love with him (it is unclear whether she still feels the same way, but she probably does), but she tells him because she feels like she owes him the truth. This conflict is not resolved and the seasons simply change and the story continues. 

• At the very end of the show, it is revealed that Fran fell asleep at the wheel after working a long shift and worrying about her children, and this breaks all of her children’s hearts, but it rips Bob apart. The entire show Bob and Fran discuss how they will relax and spend time together and look back at their lives happily in old age. Instead, after so much heartbreak and conflict, Bob is left alone and all of his children have moved away, and his wife is gone. His children all come back together and home though to support their father through the pain. 

• Although none of the conflicts are fully resolved in the show, there are rising and falling moments of tension, and most of the tension seems to disseminate when the family comes together again to mourn Fran’s death. 

Emotion:

• Emotion is displayed through movement/the physicality of the show

• A lot of the emotions in the play circle around the feeling of pain and sadness because of all of the conflict. Overriding this emotion though, is love. A lot of the movement in the show–the lifts, the hands on Rosie’s body during her monologue, Bob and Fran’s anniversary dance–are meant to be light, airy, and almost whimsical. All the movements are loving and gentle almost. Even some of the smaller more specific movements, like when Fran is opening the letter from Pip with her hands shaking, and the delicate way she holds the letter, highly contrasts her words and body language during Pip’s first monologue; the movements with the letter are much more gentle and loving. 

• The actors body language and facial expressions 

• All of the actors did an excellent job portraying emotions with their body language and facial expressions. There are a lot of great examples of this in the show; one moment that was very striking was when Mia was standing on top of the shed, soaking wet, and her arms were clutched around her body. Her stance is stiff and she looks uncomfortable and worried, and her eyes are sad and deep. When she enters the house and tries to tell her family that she is trans, her voice shakes yet is still strong, showing how hard it is to tell her family but that she is set on her resolve and will not let her family gaslight her into hiding her identity. Another striking moment is when Bob finds out that Fran is dead. Bob’s look is hard to explain with words — his expression is blank yet filled with emotion, his body is frozen yet he manages to take off his clothes. When he breaks and starts to scream and rip the rose bushes out of the garden, his body and movements are so wild and uncontrolled even though this scene was likely choreographed to a tee. It is heartbreaking when he falls into the soil and stays there, as if he is laying himself down to die in the garden that he has put his life and soul into, as if he is placing himself in the soil that held his family together that included Fran. 

Atmosphere:

• Lighting/sound 

• The lighting and sound set the general atmosphere or mood of the show. Throughout the show there are hanging lights that give a sort of yellow glow that appears to be more apparent in some scenes over others. Overall, the lighting is sparse in this show and is dark colors: often shades of blue that cast shadows over the cast and the scenery. This creates almost an ominous atmosphere, yet it also places all of the focus on the actors themselves and the plot of the show.  

• The sound is also pretty minimal throughout the show– any sound or music that is used is low and slow moving and serves as background noise. Again, most of the focus is placed on what is happening in the show regarding the cast and the plot. The music also creates a bit of an ominous or eerie atmosphere in my opinion, though again I don’t exactly remember what it was like because I was focusing on the characters and plot. I think the lighting and sound might have also meant to create a bit of foreshadowing for the coming conflicts throughout the show. 

• Set (Garden)

• The set in this show is also minimal. The garden is always in the back of the stage, and then throughout the show a kitchen table is brought off and on the stage. The garden signifies the changing of seasons in the show (although this isn’t necessarily very evident, maybe because of the climate in Australia). Throughout the show, roses are growing in the garden. This minimal set with nice rose bushes in the background at times contributes to the ominous atmosphere and sometimes offsets it with the general positive feelings/mood associated with roses. This is why it is so heartbreaking and shocking to see Bob rip up the rose bushes at the end of the show. 

• Costumes 

• The costumes for each character are also minimal and represent the character’s place in life. Rosie, for example, is the only one who wears colorful, patterned clothing. The rest of the characters were mostly monotone, simple clothing that blends in with the background and lighting. The atmosphere seems to be a combination of all of these things, and often changes between tense and relaxed, but I think it is mostly ominous? I am not too sure about the atmosphere but this is my interpretation based on the first watch. 

Meaning: 

• This show holds a lot of meaning and there is a lot to unpack. The show revolves around family relationships and touches on subjects of generational trauma, gender roles, class/status, and parental roles. I think the most important, overriding theme in this play is the idea of knowing when to let go. All of the characters have struggles and conflicts that come to light throughout the play, with almost all of them ending with the decision to part ways from their family home and move on with their lives. It is evident throughout the entire show that there is a lot of love in this family, yet there is also a lot of pain and pain that has been passed around. Each of the characters must decide when the time is right to do what's best for them and leave their parents. This all builds up when they all leave and then with no warning, Fran dies, leaving all of them without a chance to say goodbye.