Sensitivity and soul permeate a fresh song cycle about life and its vicissitudes from first time writer and director Isabelle Davis, which strikes a chord. Emotionally resonant throughout, The Eternally Hopeful features four talented performers from their teens to their thirties who pour their hearts into the material.
I speak of Jacqui Dwyer, billed as Hopeful 1, Kate Allnut as Hopeful 2, Hamish Pattenden, at the tender age of 16, as Hopeful 3 and Luke Leong-Tay as Hopeful 4. They weaponise their youth disposition to grand effect across 13 tunes that are hopeful, sorrowful, yearning and needy. The four can, indeed, warble with alacrity and polish.
With mood lighting from Cale Dennis and sound design by Christopher Wiseman, I paid close attention to the lyrics, which were most impactful. After an overture played by musical director John Mondelo on keys and Luke Leong-Tay on guitar, an ever-expressive mezzo soprano Jacqui races onto the stage for I Wait. The song expresses fears about what the future will hold.
Tenor Hamish’s What Kind of Man Do I Want to Be? poses the question whether he wants to follow in his angry father’s footsteps. Hope is the Thing with Feathers turns Emily Dickinson’s poem into song in the context of a funeral. Tenor Luke plays a man who has lost his wife. Alto, Kate, his wife’s sister, has just delivered the eulogy. They are joined by Luke’s son, Hamish.
In One More Chapter, Jacqui reads books to escape the realities of the world. Kate learns to set boundaries in The Power of No. Luke, as a schoolteacher, is frustrated by a student he desperately wants to help in Murray Gets Angry. Magic sees Hamish as a very young father overwhelmed when his girlfriend falls pregnant.
Princess and the Knight is fun and fanciful, as parents Luke and Kate sing a bedtime story to their children. The terror and excitement of discovering who you are is the theme of I Think I Know Who I Am, sung by Jacqui. The Witch, performed by Kate, sees a woman on trial for witchcraft. It is a commentary on the difficulties that women face.
Luke’s wife has dementia and he knows he has lost her, even though she is still alive. That is the subject of the heart-wrenching Gone From Me. A young boy – in this case Hamish – is totally overwhelmed by life in Nananananana, before Luke sees to him. The show closes with Jacqui and Kate holding hands performing Eternally Hopeful. It sees Kate, terminally ill, coming to terms with her death, with Jacqui farewelling her.
The material is moving and melodic. This is a show that exhibits great maturity and foresight from a young woman who only graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2019. Singer/songwriter Isabelle Davis wrote The Eternally Hopeful after spending a lot of time early last year worrying that, perhaps, being hopeful was terribly selfish. Doing so enabled her to explore this fear.
She has a big future, if this offering is anything to go by. So too the rich array of talent she has assembled with no place to hide – just a bare stage, save for a couple of pot plants and some books. Fifty minutes without interval, The Eternally Hopeful is on at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 26th September, 2026.
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- The Selkie Project (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review
- Volition (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review
- Blackpill. (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review
Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
