A beautiful tale of sadness, sacrifice and sisterhood, Sisyphean Quick Fix is an unfiltered look at the consequences of addiction for everyone involved. Sisters Krista (Bettina Paris) and Pip (Tina Rizzo) are as close as can be while miles apart, with Pip running out to tell her older sister that she’s been proposed to before even giving a reply. The actresses portray this bond incredibly believably, bantering and teasing with an undercurrent of warmth that you only share with someone you deeply care about.
Yet from the very first conversation between the two, we can see the cracks and stretch marks. Their father and his addiction take a heavy mental and physical burden on both sisters and their relationships with others. He never appears on stage, but he dominates almost every action and discussion from the second act onwards. Krista’s guilt in moving to London and her lack of success there, Pip constantly having to leave work to keep an eye on him and the strain it puts on her independence are all highlighted, explored and satisfyingly seen through their emotional arcs. The audience is pulled into the lives of these very real characters, watching them grow and change over the course of the show while knowing there’s only one way that any of this is going to end, repeated quick fixes be damned.
The show is also very funny: not quite a laugh a minute, but a constant reminder of how close the two are. A lot of the humour is double edged, with the audience laughing but seeing the knife twist deeper into the several open wounds. The staging is simple but effective – props are used throughout to differentiate locations and times, with the few time skips handled via dialogue.
In short it’s a show that’ll make you laugh, make you cry, and most of all make you empathise and think about those who society hasn’t really talked about that much.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Emma Micallef
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