Entertainment
2 May, 2025
Breakfast on Pluto play is hilarious, but heartbreaking
THE Rondo’s latest play, ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, takes audiences on an emotional journey through loneliness, ageing, love and family, driven by a contemporary story and standout performances.
Local playwright Ken Cotterill has brought a fresh dramedy to the stage of the Rondo with Breakfast on Pluto, the tale of how the life of middle-aged single dad Stan, his son Ian and his sister Jean get flipped upside down with the arrival of a mysterious woman into their homes.
The story slowly but surely builds from the lethargic everyday life of our protagonist into the turmoil that comes when Stan’s son Ian picks up a strange lady that’s unconscious in a gutter by the road.
In the story we’re introduced to Stan played by Craig Burford, who carefully brings the character’s neurotic personality to life, his impatience and desired to be loved. Stan was left by his wife 12 years ago and he has been raising his son Ian – played by Jacques Hawkins – alone since.
Stan’s older sister Jean played by Judy Gittins is a standout in the play and steals every scene she’s in as she masterfully brings Jean – the controlling older sister – to life. Although Jean loves Stan and wishes the best for him, she can’t help but want to be superior to him and control his life to what better suits hers.
Then we meet the mysterious woman Elena, played by Ola Adamczyk. She’s found unconscious by the side of the road by Ian and brought into the house. She’s extremely mysterious, a migrant from Moldova and someone shrouded in mystery. How did she end up in the gutter? Did someone throw her there? Why? All questions she refuses to answer and yet she also brings a straightforwardness the family was missing. She’s blunt and brusque but also compassionate and caring.
Elena was a welcoming addition to the story and commanding every time she was on stage and paired with Jean made for the most interesting, heart breaking and fulfilling scene of the whole play as they faced each other, Elena as the future of what Stan and Ian’s lives could be and Jean as the past, the anchor, the desire of keeping everything the way it is.
Overall, Breakfast on Pluto gives the audience a set of questions for them to answer and fill in the gaps.
It’s at times hilarious and at times heartbreaking, a reflection of real life and tragicomedy of each one of us as we face change, loneliness and that feeling that there has got to be more to this life.
To buy tickets to Breakfast on Pluto, visit https://bit.ly/44IdxEg
