Pearls: Pre-Show Notes
Below is the transcript of the pre-show notes for the Adelaide Fringe 2025 season of Pearls.
There are two audio files available for this show, the recording of these pre-show notes and the recording of the program given to audience members at the performance.
The audio recording of these notes is available on my soundcloud site here.
The audio recording of the program is available on my soundcloud here.
Enhanced Program Notes: Transcript of the Recording
Hi, I’m Tracy Crisp, the writer, performer and producer of Pearls. I’ve written these pre-show notes to give you some added context to the show. The notes include 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.
Show credits
Written and performed by Tracy Crisp
Original direction by Ross Vosvotekas, 2025 direction by Maggie McGinty
Show blurb
In the search for a string of pearls, a daughter travels to her abandoned childhood home and a mother travels from Port Pirie to Paris, without ever leavingAustralia. Family relics abound: ashtrays, a Princess Diana jigsaw, a commode used as a coffee table. Memories are ignited then questioned. And still the pearls cannot be found. Family fractures deepen until finally a heartbreaking, but healing truth is revealed.
General information about the production
Pearls is one of the six shows in my series of ‘memoir monologues.’ They are all solo shows (I am the only character and performer) and they are all a blend of standup, theatre and storytelling. This was the first show I wrote and performed. While each of the shows stands alone, and they don’t follow a clear chronology, Pearls does establish my mother’s character and she features strongly in all of the shows.
Each of the shows is based on a particular event of stage of my life.While some of the shows, such as An Evening With the Vegetarian Librarian are more ‘mostly true, slightly made up,’ Pearls tells the story of real life events. In particular, it tells the story of my mother’s last day on earth.
Pearls debuted at the Adelaide Fringe in 2018, and it has had repeat seasons every year since then. It has had some beautiful reviews with five stars from InDaily, Matilda Marseillaise and Radio Adelaide.The review in InDaily says, ‘With nothing but her memories and warm-hearted charm, Crisp keeps the audience spellbound for the entire 50-minute performance…This is live storytelling at its best…”
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 bar and foyer area. There is a short ramp leading from the path 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.
The set and props
The stage is already set when you come in. The lights are on over the audience seats, and the stage is lit with a soft, golden wash.
As with all my shows, the set is a simple one. In the centre of the performance space there is a rectangular table with four chairs (one on each edge). The table and chairs are a simple style, made of wood. The table is positioned lengthways and the right edge (from the audience perspective) is angled slightly towards the audience.
The table is covered with a green gingham tablecloth, there are small pot plants on the table and chairs, with garden implements including two small garden trowels. The trowels have a little dirt on them.
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 a neutral shade of lipstick.
I am wearing a tunic made of dark blue denim and underneath a t-shirt.The t-shirt changes from night to night. Sometimes it is white, and sometimes it is black with a light sliver 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 reasonably static performer and don’t move around the stage very much at all. For most of the performance I am either standing downstage in the centre of the stage or sitting in the chair at the right-hand edge of the table.
One movement which is repeated through the show is when I mimic my mother smoking. I hold my left hand in the air, as if there is a cigarette between my pointer and middle fingers, my thumb is straight, my ring finger and little finger curve towards my palm. When I pretend to smoke, I bring my fingers to my lips in a gentle, measured movement. I use this action as a punctuation mark throughout the performance.
The show begins with a recorded Welcome to Country. The lights are dimmed, but not blacked 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 downstage centre. As the birdsong plays the lights come up to a golden wash.
As noted above, I don't move around the stage a lot and I am usually standing downstage or seated at the table. The following list describes the key points of action in the show:
- When I am describing my mother getting ready for cabaret nights, the lights change from gold to white. I take a chair downstage centre. I sit in the chair as I act her part putting on makeup. I stand next to the chair when I am acting myself as a young child.
- When I am describing the patchwork of my childhood memories, I move the chair to your left and sit. I stand when I describe my mother’s restlessness.
- As I talk about my mother watching television, I line up three chairs in a row and sit in the far right chair. At the end of this scene, the lights dim while I return the chairs to their original places around the table.
- When I am describing the clothes and costumes my mother sewed for me, I bring a chair downstage centre again and sit in it. When I describe my mother’s fingers on the back of my neck I bend my neck and lift my hair. I then return the chair to its place at the table.
- As I describe leaving home and going off to university, I step to the front of the stage, waving towards the back of the stage, then as I describe my first few month’s at university, I am walking back and forth along the front of the stage, mostly stopped in the middle.
- When I am talking about the only time I saw my mother cry, the lights are dimmed.
- Talking about my new boyfriend and getting married the lights are back up to a golden wash. I am downstage centre.
- Talking about leaving Australia and then describing my last conversation with my mother, I take a chair and sit downstage centre. When I describe the moment of my mother's death I stand.
- As I describe the days after my mother’s funeral I return to the seat at the right hand side of the table.
- When I describe the years after my mother died, I stand briefly in front of the table, then for the remainder of the performance I am at the front of the stage, mostly in the centre, but slightly to the right when I describe being in front of my mother’s dressing table and slightly to the left when I describe my conversation with my uncle.
- In the final moments of the performance I have my eyes closed, but open them again for the final two words.
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 be standing out in the foyer to thank people for coming.
Thank you for coming to Pearls and for sharing this time with me.
