The Performance

Author(s): Claire Thomas

Fiction

The breakout literary sensation of 2021, THE PERFORMANCE is a tightly woven examination of women's inner lives that is enthralling, profound and deeply human.


The false cold of the theatre makes it hard to imagine the heavy wind outside in the real world, the ash air pressing onto the city from the nearby hills where bushfires are taking hold.
The house lights lower.
The auditorium feels hopeful in the darkness.

As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.

Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.

As the performance unfolds, so does each woman's story. By the time the curtain falls, they will all have a new understanding of the world beyond the stage.



'A potent meditation on the intensity of women's lives' Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend


'Read it as soon as you possibly can' Emily Bitto, author of The Strays


'I read from start to finish almost without looking up' Clare Bowditch, author of Your Own Kind of Girl

CONSTANT READER STAFF REVIEW - REBECCA


Three woman watch a Beckett play in Melbourne. As they watch, they think about the world, themselves, their lives, art and meaning.


Thomas works masterfully within the limitations she has imposed on herself narratively – the characters spend most of the book sat quietly in different parts of a darkened theatre – taking us through their internal processes and using a gentle, nuanced touch to demonstrate the similarities and differences between age, generation, class and race.


While the women watch, safe within the theatre walls, bushfires are raging. They are similarly oblivious to 2020’s imminent upheaval. Like with the fires, the reader is aware of the different degrees of impact these women will shortly experience when coronavirus hits. Art is a strong, consistent theme throughout; bringing these women together while highlighting the privilege in having the opportunity to see such a ‘non-essential’ thing as a play, something out of reach for many even before coronavirus.

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Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9780733644542
  • : Hachette Australia
  • : Hachette Australia
  • : 0.3
  • : December 2020
  • : 2.5 Centimeters X 15.4 Centimeters X 23.4 Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Claire Thomas
  • : Paperback
  • : 2103
  • : en
  • : 823.92
  • : 304
  • : FA