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Right, ‘cripping up’: how do you feel about it? Because the answer to that question is going to make a big difference on how much you get out of this Brad Fraser premiere. It’s a story that needs to be told, and is here told with bravery and the best of all possible intentions. But if you believe that the reticence to use disabled actors for disabled roles is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed, then ‘Kill Me Now’ is going to be a considerably less heartening experience.
That’s not to say that Oliver Gomm doesn’t do a superb job as teenager Joey Sturdy, who is ploughing his way through puberty one inconvenient erection at a time, while struggling with a genetic disorder which severely limits his movement and motor control.
Fraser’s play charts the evolution of an unconventional family, as widowed ex-author Jake (Greg Wise) works to find a fulfilling life for his son against harsh economic and emotional realities. Jake’s having a tough enough time when he just has to worry about offering manual relief to the sexually frustrated Joey at bathtime, but when he himself begins to crumple under a rare spinal condition, things rapidly become unbearable.
Fraser’s willingness to confront often ignored questions of sexuality, privacy and emotional autonomy is his play’s strongest suit. Neither the script nor director Braham Murray’s production shies away from the realities of personal care or the achingly difficult ethical questions raised by living with such extreme physical disabilities, and at their best they handle all of this with humour and clarity.
Sadly ‘Kill Me Now’ is not always at its best. As real and pertinent as the problems Fraser addresses are, his dialogue is often painfully trite and riven with clanging platitudes. Characters speak in strange exposition-laden sentences, and the lack of a strong dramatic engine driving the plot forwards leave it stranded perilously close to a dated US soap opera.
It builds to a climax of undeniable emotional force, and its willingness to confront uncomfortable realities head-on is cheering, but there are too many elements that ring false – not least that casting – for ‘Kill Me Now’ to achieve what it sets out so boldly to do.