A TREE, FALLING

$5.40 – $15.00

Lenny lives alone. Once a busy GP at the epicentre of a vibrant family, he now has no recollection whatever of the life he has led. These days, life's chief adventure, relived each day, is the tracking down of the remote control.

Into this rather desolate and shapeless life steps Lola, a friendly visitor sent from the local council. What she finds is a stubbornly independent man who sees no reason why this stranger has entered his home. Nor do successive visits render her any less a stranger, as she finds she must re-establish her credentials every single time.

Despite her every attempt to provide Lenny with visual cues and aides memoire, he continues to live within the moment. The poignancy of his plight forces Lola to question the meaning of her own past, her own life, of life itself. The discoveries she makes force her to re-evaluate her future.

'A Tree, Falling' has about it a gentle humour, built into the fabric of a poignant, subtly profound work that seeks to probe the centrality of human memory as a means to understanding the meaning of human existence.

Along the way, themes of identity, loss, the passage of time and our connectedness to one another weave a narrative that speaks to us of the essence of the human condition. Not as a philosopher might speak, or a priest, or even a dramatist, but as a fellow traveller.

Nominated for a 2003 Victorian Green Room Award

APT