I Made an Adult
A bittersweet story of beaten eggs, spilt milk and the sifted years of childhood
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 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 hide from her child.
“Very moving … very funny … a wonderful piece of theatre”
About the show
I Made an Adult was written in the first pandemic year, when my youngest child was in his final year of school and turning 18. All of my work was on hold–tours cancelled, even funerals restricted–and we were in the process of a poorly-timed renovation. It was a strange experience to feel that so much was changing but simultaneously, we were all having to sit so still.
At the heart of this show is the relationship between a parent and a child. When I started writing, I intended it to be an extremely lighthearted piece with a series of anecdotes between me and my children. But as I wrote, I was drawn to exploring the complexities of the relationship between a parent and a child. In particular, I was fascinated by the layering that happens between your relationship with your parents as you become a parent yourself.
This is the fourth show I wrote, but looking at the works as they developed, this had a natural place as the third in the trilogy that I named You Can’t Hide in the Desert. Like all of the shows, it is its own show and was developed as a stand-alone piece, but its relationship to Pearls and The Forgettory is clear.
Enhanced program notes and image descriptions
I have recorded two audio guides and uploaded them to my soundcloud page. A single web page with written transcripts of those guides is available here. These transcripts are:
- An audio version of the enhanced program notes is available here. The notes are intended to give people with a visual impairment some added context to the show. Although the show is strongly grounded in the script, there are some lighting cues and movements intended to convey added meaning to the script, and I describe these in the notes.
- Throughout the performance some images are projected onto a screen at the back of the stage. An audio guide of the image descriptions is available here.
I have also recorded an audio version of the printed program and uploaded them to my soundcloud page here.
This is the first time I’ve written enhanced program notes. In learning how to write these notes, I’ve been working with Maria Oshodi at Extant. Please note that I have completed the guides myself, and any errors or omissions are most definitely mine! If you use the notes and you’d like to offer feedback, please do get in touch. I’ll be doing them for all my shows, so the feedback will definitely be useful.
Acknowledgments and Credits
Conceived and delivered by Tracy Crisp
Directed by Maggie Wood
Love and support by Adrian Jones
Image by Headshots Adelaide
First staged at The Bakehouse Theatre Mainstage, Adelaide Fringe 2021
An extract of this work was read at tenx9 Adelaide
Thank you to my family, especially my children, for trusting me to share some of their lives so publicly
Thank you to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet through Arts South Australia for their assistance with a Quick Support Grant; and to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet through Arts South Australia and Adelaide Fringe for their assistance through a South Australian Artists COVID Support Grant
