By Diana Miranda

Leave all your Granny stereotypes at the door. Harriet Waterhouse’s debut dramedy Sex Chat Granny offers a unique perspective on a woman working on sex chat phone lines as she navigates the challenges of middle age and unpaid bills. The play provides glimpses into her life – stories filled with longing and stagnant dreams – interspersed with calls to her mother, who has dementia, and men seeking companionship. 

The performance is set in a black box with only a wooden table and two chairs. Waterhouse enters with a pile of freshly laundered socks and a cup of tea, establishing a domestic and intimate tone. Her performance is the highlight of the show. Her unadorned portrayal brings a raw quality to the character that is both poignant and unassuming. We can’t help but be charmed by this unconventional granny and the stories she invents. They cheer up her mother, strangers, and herself, tweaking reality as needed to provide a source of comfort, from delightful trips to Aldi for her mother, to high-heeled dominatrix escapades for her clients.

As our narrator shares her story with the audience, she remains glued to her seat, sorting and folding socks. She occasionally stands to interact with her callers while looking out at an empty horizon. This setup perhaps aims to convey the monotony and emptiness she feels in her life. However, the static staging and one-note rhythm make it challenging to stay fully on board during the 45-minute monologue.

Some heartfelt moments touch on the challenges of coping with loneliness and the lengths we may go to avoid it. The play hints at this longing for connection from different lenses, including middle age, chronic illness, and masculinity. However, these ideas are yet to be fully developed. The narrative, while honest and endearing, somewhat resembles “dear diary” entries, reflecting the author’s personal thoughts and recounting significant events, but lacking a clear focus or character journey to give the story a sense of momentum.

Sex Chat Granny is a charming piece that explores how we use the power of storytelling to edit the narrative of our lives. It conjures a low-key energy akin to working from home wearing pyjamas, as the protagonist does, but it leaves us yearning for a bolder direction that mirrors the spicy nature of her job and the beating heart of the story. With a bit more development, Sex Chat Granny has the potential to deeply resonate with audiences. Please hold the line for more.

Sex Chat Granny runs through 7 August. 

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