I Made an Adult: Pre-Show Notes
Below is the transcript of the pre-show notes for the Adelaide Fringe 2025 season of I Made an Adult. Underneath that is the transcript of the image descriptions.
There are three audio files available. One for the pre-show- notes, one for the image descriptions and one for the program given to audience members at the performance.
The audio file of the pre-show notes is available on my soundcloud page here.
The audio file of the image descriptions is available on my soundcloud page here.
The audio recording of the program is available on my soundcloud here.
Pre-Show Notes: Transcript of the Recording
Hi, I'm Tracy Crisp, the writer, performer and producer of I Made an Adult. I've written these pre-show notes to give you some added context to the production. It includes general information about the production, followed by descriptions of the theatre space, the sets and props, my appearance and costume and the main actions and movements I perform throughout the show.
I have also provided descriptions of the images which are projected on the screen throughout the show.
Show credits
Written and performed by Tracy Crisp
Directed by Maggie McGinty
Technical design and support by Adam Hawes
Show blurb
Midnight in the kitchen. With her youngest child about to turn 18, a mother faces her greatest challenge yet: one final chance to make a Women's Weekly birthday cake look just like the picture. But as she turns the cookbook's pages and her memories are stirred, she uncovers a truth she knows she can't hid from her child. A bittersweet story of beaten eggs, spilt milk and the sifted years of childhood.
General information about the production
I Made an Adult is one of the six shows in my series of 'memoir monologues.' They are solo shows (I am the only character and performer) and they are all a blend of standup, theatre and storytelling. This was the fourth show I wrote. However, each of the shows stands alone, and they don't follow a clear chronology so you won't be missing any backstory if this is the only show you've seen.
Each of the shows is based on a particular event or stage of my life. While some of the shows such as An Evening With the Vegetarian Librarian are 'mostly true, slightly made-up,' I Made an Adult tells the story of real life events.
I Made an Adult debuted at the Adelaide Fringe in 2021. I have staged some single performances of it since then, but this is its first repeat season.
The theatre
For the 2025 Adelaide Fringe season, the show is being played in the Studio space at the Goodwood Theatre and Studios. The theatre is on Goodwood Road, on the corner with Victoria Street. During the fringe season, you will enter the theatre through a small gate off Victoria Street. Follow the path straight then to your right and into the foyer and bar area. There is a short ramp leading from the outside into the bar. There will be an announcement made when the doors are open and you will be invited into the studio space. The front-of-house staff will check your tickets. It is a 50-seat space and general admission. If you need assistance to find the best seating for your needs please ask the front-of-house staff and they will be happy to help.
When you walk into the room, the performance space is on your left. It is not a raised stage. The audience seats are to your right. The tech desk is in the corner immediately to your right as you enter. There are four rows of seats. The front row is on the floor and the three rows behind that are stepped up. All of the walls are covered in thick black curtains, but at the back of stage hangs a white curtain which is used to project some images throughout the show.
The set and props
The stage is already set when you come in. The lights are on over the seats, and the stage is list with a soft golden wash.
As with all my shows, the set is a simple one. There is a rectangular wooden kitchen table covered in a red tablecloth and with four wooden chairs, one on each side of the table. The table is positioned lengthways and the right edge (from the audience perspective) is angled slightly towards the audience.
The chair on the right and the front edges of the table are angled slightly to face the audience. The other two chairs are behind the table. A white, folded tea towel is draped over the back of the chair that is to the right. To the left is a three-tiered kitchen trolley a little shorter than the table. It is filled with food items you would find in a kitchen—a weetbix box, containers of flour and sugar, a carton of milk, a carton of eggs, some bananas and some bread.
In the centre of the table is a white mixing bowl with a wooden spoon resting inside. To the left is a recipe book on a stand. It is the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday CakeBook. On the cover of the book is an image of the cake train. This is made to look like a steam train with four carriages, all iced in different colours.
Also on the table is a teacup on a saucer with a pastel floral design.
To the right of the stage and almost off stage is a black music stand with an open spiral-bound document. There is text printed on the pages and the paragraphs of the text have been highlighted with coloured highlighter pens.
My appearance and costume
I am short (five foot two, 158 centimetres). My skin is white. My hair is straight, shoulder-length, brown with grey streaks. I have a fringe. I wear largeish round, brown glasses. I don't wear much makeup, just mascara, foundation, a light blush and neutral shade of lipstick.
I am wearing a tunic made of dark blue denim and underneath it a t-shirt. The tunic has two deep pockets and two white buttons on the centre back. The t-shirt changes from night to night. Sometimes it is white, and sometimes it is black with a light silver sparkle woven through it. My shoes are cream converse sneakers with wedge soles.
Action and movement
General note on action and movement: I am a reasonable static performer and don't move around the stage very much. For most of the performance I am either standing downstage or sitting at the table either in the chair to the right or the one in front. Throughout the show some slides are projected onto the screen at the back of the stage. The show is written as a series of scenes or vignettes.
I will describe the main action of each scene and any slides shown in that scene.
The show begins with a recorded Welcome to Country. The lights are dimmed, but not black out. I am standing in the room just inside the door as the welcome plays. When the Welcome to Country is finished and the intro music plays, I take my place behind the table.
As I describe why I'm cooking at midnight, I am holding the mixing bowl on the table with one hand. With the other hand I am holding the wooden spoon which I use to stir the cake mix from time to time. When I talk about my previous attempts to make a birthday cake, three images are scrolled on the screen. The first two are photos of my boys aged about five and three decorating cakes. The third image shows my youngest boy, aged three, putting lollies intended for the cake in his mouth. When I ask the audience ‘do you like my tea towel’ I flick the tea towel a little like a matador to a bull and hold it up to the audience. I re-fold the tea-towel and put it back on the chair.
As I’m reminiscing about deciding to have children, I move downstage centre then to the left. The lights dim, and I am lit by a blue isolation light. For the final lines of this scene I return to the centre stage, the blue light is dimmed and the golden light returns.
When I am talking about siting at the kitchen table with my father, I am sitting at the kitchen table in the chair to your right. I hold my arms as if I am holding a baby and throughout this short scene I am swaying gently from side to side. During this scene the photo of my father described in the image descriptions fades up onto the screen. The lights are dimmed and the photo fades to end this scene.
As I list, Weetbix, bananas, milk and toast, I am standing behind the table again, and the lighting is soft gold. I gradually move from behind the table to sit briefly, then as I say, ‘Will I? Will I really?’ stand then walk across the stage.
When I am describing my boy’s surgery and my father’s surgery I am once again sitting in the chair to the right. When I say the refrain, ‘kick, kick, kick’ my legs swings lightly back and forth in time.
When I am talking about visiting my childhood home in Port Pirie I am standing downstage, holding the mixing bowl in the curve of the elbow of one arm. With the other hand I am holding the wooden spoon and stirring from time to time. As I say, ‘I can be that person I saw in my imagination’ there is a fade up of the photo of Abu Dhabi’s mosque as described in the image descriptions. The photo fades down. When I’ve listed the ingredients and when I say ‘let’s put this baby in the oven’ there is a blackout.
As I talk about my first months in Abu Dhabi I am sitting at the front of the table. As I list the things I don’t understand about Abu Dhabi, three images scroll on the screen, the chandelier, gold car and intersection as described in the image descriptions. When I talk about going to Carrefour, the French supermarket, I stand and move once again to the blue isolation spot stage left.
When I describe booking a trip to Edinburgh and Spain the lighting is golden and I am standing centre stage. While talking about our time in Edinburgh and Spain I am mostly standing downstage. While I am talking about my eldest child sketching there is a series of images first of my youngest child on his bed reading, then of my eldest boy sketching. These are described in the image descriptions.
When I talk about being in Edinburgh, the image of my boys and I standing in front of the posters of my show is briefly on the screen. This is described in the image descriptions. When I describe going out for dinner, there is also an image of a glass of fizzy orange drink.
As I talk about my golden age of parenting, I am seated at the kitchen table. Talking about our trip to the market I am downstage then return to my seat.
When I say, 'It's time to come home,' the lights go down.
As I say 'what's the secret to a good joke' the lights come up, I am standing behind the table and I place a fully-completed cake on the table. This cake is the same as the train cake on the cover of the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book. It has a red engine four carriages in bold colours and coloured popcorn on the top of each carriage.
When I am talking about our trip to Bali I move to the front of the stage. When I am talking about myself running my movements become exaggerated.
As I talk about my children becoming eighteen, I move back to the table, sit in the chair to the right. As I say that train’s express and you can’t catch your breath, I move to the front of the stage. In the final moments of the show, the image of my father comes back up onto the screen.
After I say my final line I move to the left of the stage and while the background music plays, a series of ten photos plays on the screen to end the performance. The first photo is of the four of us, Adrian and our two children, followed by photos of the boys together shown in chronological order from babies to toddlers, primary school aged children, high school. These images are described in the image descriptions. The final image is of an orange-tinged sand dune which takes up nearly all of the image with just a small band of sky at the top. In the foreground, the sand is patterned in waves. In the middle distance, my two boys, aged about eight and six, are running towards the sand dunes and have reached its base, long shadows being cast by their bodies. One of the boys is kicking up sand behind him as he runs.
When the show ends
The lights blackout after I have said my final line, then come up. As the music starts, I take my bows, acknowledging the team who are there, in particular the technician, Maggie the director if she is in the audience that night and my partner, Adrian.
I open the doors of the theatre and leave. As you leave the theatre, Adrian (or another member of the team) stands at the door giving a small packet of rock candy to everyone who wants one as they leave. The candy is rainbow coloured. In the middle is printed the word 'sixology.' I will standing in the foyer to thank people for coming.
Thank you for coming to I Made an Adult and for sharing this time with me.
Section Two: Image Descriptions
The audio file for these image descriptions is available on my soundcloud page here.
In this section I provide descriptions of the images which are shown on the screen at the back of the stage throughout the performance. All of the images have been taken by me, except the photo that has me in it which was taken by Adrian.
The first three images are shown when I talk about making a birthday cake. Three images are scrolled on the screen. The first two are photos of my boys aged about five and three decorating cakes. The third image shows my youngest boy, aged three, putting lollies intended for the cake in his mouth.
A single image is shown at the end of the second scene, when I am sitting at the kitchen table holding my arms as if cradling my baby. At the end of this scene when I talk about looking at my father, there is an image of my father on the screen. He is standing, holding my baby against his chest. Close-up and taken outside, Dad and my baby fill the frame, from Dad’s waist up, his thick hands covering the lower half of my baby’s body. They are sharply in focus, the leaves of the tree behind him are blurred. Dad is looking directly into the camera and although there is some reflection off his glasses his eyes are clearly visible. his hair, which was red but is fading to grey is shoulder length, thick and slightly flicked away from his face. His beard and moustache are white. They are trimmed, but full.
The baby is a few months old, so all his weight is against his Grandpa’s chest. He is facing the same direction as Dad, but is gaze is toward the ground and but only one eye is visible, the other is in the shadows. He is wearing a dark blue babysuit with dark green stripes. It is crumpled and loose-fitting.
A grainy Instagram-filtered photo of Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque, framed by the upper fronds of a palm tree. the colouring is muted grey but tinged with red and beyond the palm tree the atmosphere is misty as if cloud cover is low. The palm tree is in the foreground, framing the right and top. In the middle distance are the bushy tops of other palm trees. In the background centre are the domes of the Grand Mosque with two tall spires on their left.
The following three images are scrolled on the screen when I am describing the things that I don’t understand about Abu Dhabi.
First, a view looking up into the white dome of a building with a chandelier cascading from its centre. Pointed arched windows line the bottom of dome, allowing daylight to come through. The chandelier is not lit, but it is made of fringes of silvery beads that are catching some light. At the top of the chandelier is a star-shaped gold frame. The layers underneath, all formed with these silver fringes, are three circles that graduate down in size from biggest to smallest.
Second, a night time shot of an external carpark, and slightly out of focus, a gold shiny four-wheel drive fills most of the frame. The lights of the carpark are reflected off the car. Parts of other cars are visible, but they are standard colours like white.In the background, the tops of a palm trees line the top edge of the frame.
Third, an Instagram-filtered image of a T-junction outside a school. In the foreground a close up of the road which is coloured deep red. The words ‘School Zone’ are painted in white in both English and Arabic. A red stop sign says ‘Stop’ in both English and Arabic. A car is turning right out of the street and is halfway over the speed hum which is striped yellow and white. In the background, several low-rise buildings with cars and a yellow school bus parked in front of them.
When we get to Madrid and I talk about giving my children travel journals and my youngest boy goes back to reading there is an image of my youngest son, aged about six, lying on his stomach, resting on his elbows and reading a book. He is on a bed which is covered in a white quilt pulled tight. To his right, two small Styrofoam containers, one filled with sliced fruit—kiwifruit, peach, raspberries and cherries—the other has dried apricots and cherry stones. In the background a thin rectangular window, its glass open and swung inwards, and wrought iron bars on the outside.
The following nine images are all of my eldest son aged about nine. They follow one another in quick succession. They are at different scenes in Spain, but all show my nine-year-old boy, with his head bent, a pen in his right hand, a notebook in his left. Standing in a church with a line of pews behind him, facing the side of the church; sitting on a low concrete wall; standing on a footpath with other pedestrians around him; sitting on a step in a plaza, a cathedral in the background (and his brother sitting on the step above him); sitting in a car resting his knee pulled up and his book resting against it; sitting on the step of a house in a row of whitewashed houses that are set at the top of a hill, in the background a sweeping view of hills stretching into the distance (his brother is approaching him with a smile of anticipation on his face); sitting on the ground in the middle of a university plaza that is surrounded by modern buildings constructed of sheets of different-coloured glass; standing in the entrance of a small church, resting his book against the wall while he sketches(his brother is in the background, resting against the back of a pew his head bent over his own sketchbook).
There are two images shown during our time in Edinburgh.
The first is of the boys and I in front of a row of posters stuck to a wall. I am standing on the right, wearing a white jumper and a tidy haircut. The boys are to the left, the eldest behind the youngest with his arms over his shoulders. The youngest is grabbing at his brother’s sleeves and poking his tongue out towards the camera.The Fringe posters, including two showing a headshot of me and my name in white print.
The second is a closeup of a glass with bright orange liquid, some ice, and a bent orange straw. The top quarter of the glass is empty. A child’s hands playing with a blue paper napkin in the background and blurry.
During my final lines the image of my Dad holding my baby is once again on the screen.
After my final line there is a montage of photos while background music plays. There are fourteen images in all. The first is the four of us—Adrian, me and our children—in a holiday snap, from left to right our youngest boy, Adrian, me and our eldest on the right. They are all sitting and I am standing behind, leaning on Leo, my arm around his shoulder. We are all looking into the camera and smiling.Together we take up most of the frame.
The following images are all of the two boys together beginning with an image of our youngest boy a few days old being held by Adrian, with our eldest boy looking carefully at the baby.The photos then move chronologically through their lives. There are about eighteen months in age difference between them. The images move from being together in a cot; both sitting looking into the camera but neither wearing a shirt; dressed up one with bunny ears the other with a green wig; standing in a garden looking into the camera; wrapped together in a red coat; sitting in a café each with a pack of playing cards in their hands, the eldest showing the other how to hold the cards; lying face-up on a patch of grass; in the backseat of a caravan arms around each other; at a bus station the eldest boy holding the youngest in a hug while the youngest is screwing up his face and laughing; as young adults dressed for a school formal in jacket and ties. The final image, as described in the enhanced program notes, is of an orange-tinged sand dune which takes up nearly all of the image with just a small band of sky at the top. In the foreground, the sand is patterned in waves. In the middle distance, my two boys, aged about eight and six, are running towards the sand dunes and have reached its base, long shadows being cast by their bodies. One of the boys is kicking up sand behind him as he runs.
