I first heard about the new musical Indigo at Curve’s season preview earlier this year and it is one production I’d really been looking forward to. The story follows three generations of women leading very different lives and how they end up being reunited.
What drew me most towards this musical was the fact that one of the characters, like my own daughter, is autistic. I was interested to find out how her character was portrayed. The musical did not disappoint.
The story follows Beverly, played by Rebecca Trehearn, who alongside husband Rick, (Nuno Queimado), is in the process of moving her mum, who has Alzheimer’s, into their home to care for her. Mum Elaine (Loose Women’s Lisa Maxwell) is in denial and initially tries to convince herself and those around her that it will just be for a short time until she moves back home.
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(Image: Manuel Harlan)
Maxwell portrays Elaine as a real force of nature, someone who you can imagine had previously been used to taking charge and dealing with situations head-on. This made it feel all the more upsetting as time goes on and Elaine’s memory loss becomes more apparent. Her rendition of ‘Before I Forget’ is particularly poignant.
Not long after Elaine moves in, a tragic event brings Emma (Katie Cailean) – Beverley’s daughter – a non-verbal autistic teen who has synaesthesia, back into the family’s life. Emma’s synaesthesia – a neurological condition which blends the senses (like tasting colours or feeling sounds) – means she associates the people she knows and familiar places with different colours.
This is beautifully represented in the musical, with a positive portrayal and affirmation of the condition. For those of us who are not able to experience the world in the way Emma does, we are helped by the characters wearing the colours Emma associates them with. This is further enhanced by the stage lighting and colours in the paintings.
(Image: Manuel Harlan)
The audience is able to get an insight into Emma’s thoughts as she is given a voice through song. Cailean excels in the role, both vocally and portraying Emma’s complex character.
Rick has no idea that Beverley has a daughter until Emma turns up. In the song ‘Keep It Together’, Beverly hints at her past life “There’s things Rick can’t know and there’s no need to tell him”. But the weight on Beverly’s shoulders is apparent when later in the song she sings “If I keep it together, everything will be okay”.
But it’s not until she sings ‘All that it took’ later on in the production that everything becomes clear. This song is so poignant. I don’t know about anyone else in the audience, but for me, once those tears started flowing, they did not stop throughout this number.
(Image: Manuel Harlan)
The score for this musical is absolutely beautiful, delivered perfectly by the whole cast, which is completed by Tyler (Hugo Rolland), the dyslexic teen who finds common ground with Emma in their love of comic books and superheroes, and social worker Alicia (Tania Mathurin). Mathurin is key in getting the family back together in the beginning, and the audience is treated to her powerful voice in her rendition of ‘Nobody Expects That’.
The set designed by Andrzej Goulding and lighting by Jake DeGroot is superb – transforming Beverly and Rick’s ‘beige’ home into a kaleidoscope of colour.
This is one production I would love to go and watch and enjoy again. It would be great to see it in the main auditorium.
Indigo is at Curve until Saturday, July 19. The running time is 1 hour 40 minutes with no interval.
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