What an interesting idea; exploring what is going on in the heads of 3 audience members while a Samuel Beckett play is being performed onstage.

Margot, an academic in her 70s; Ivy, a philanthropist in her 40s (and a former student of Margot’s); and Summer, a university student who suffers from crippling anxiety, all contemplate their relationships and interactions with others while the play is proceeding onstage.

I found this novel totally absorbing and my Christmas Day preparations were compromised while I kept reading while I should have been making my pavlova. A wonderful exploration of female relationships and how we present ourself to the world. The things we hide and how we wonder how things would change if we made different choices and were more honest.

This novel is almost entirely the thoughts of the three main characters. There is not a lot of action, but the women are so real and honest that I couldn’t help but be riveted by them. I would have liked another chapter about Summer where we find out what happened after she left the theatre, but maybe that wasn’t the point. It’s a fairly short novel, so it could have handled a little more fleshing out.

Thoroughly enjoyable - 4.5 stars

The Performance is not a novel, it is a poem, an ode to three women and their lives. It is a song even, something along side of Odyssey. It is about their choices, their successes and failures.

Three women united in the audience of the Arts Centre, watching Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days and they let their minds wander. This roving on the waves of memories and emotions takes them to very unexpected places, to uncovering the truths about their own lives and people in it.

Two acts and intermission is all the time we get to watch this trio. But it is more than enough. It is enough to realise someone needs help and another someone really loves their partner or may be is not failing as a parent.

Besides an interesting angle on the letting of lives' stories, the language of the novel needs to paid particular attention and praised. It is so evocative, so poetic and rhythmic. It is poetry and song.

I enjoyed the book both for the stories and for the language. It is a very unusual novel for me, but one that gave me time to recover my wits and to let my mind rove.

The way literature interrogates time in structural and thematic ways is something I find myself really interested in reading—while non-linear or parallel timelines are great ways to engage in this, I thought Claire Thomas did something really clever with time in THE PERFORMANCE.

“There are these people you are with and you are hyper aware, in a way you are not with any other relationship, that they are going to be a different person soon,” she says. “There is this strange distortion of time and understanding I experienced and still do. That kind of almost longing for something even while you are doing it – I feel like that is an absolute quality of motherhood. And that comes with an understanding of the inevitability of growth.” (Full credit to @rubyhamadwriter whose interview with Thomas in @satpaper had me so intrigued to read this one, an extract from which I’ve quoted)

Impermanence and the folding of temporality particularly stood out for me on reading this (listening was even better, it’s a full cast narration!) - the novel takes places over a single evening at the theatre, and we follow three women as they experience the evening and are jolted into their own self-awareness and contemplation. I loved the way the play was this constant conversation fostering these thoughts and deep thinking the women found themselves working through - the way they consumed the art as much as they let the interruptions and audience around them become part their engagement with the Beckett play being performed.

Structurally the use of the intermission and having this written as a play worked as a way to blur the lines between the performance and the experiences of the women. The line between art and audience perhaps is beside the point, and I loved the nudge that this part of the novel gave me to consider that.

Honestly there is so much to unpack in this one—grab copies for your bookclub as this is one you’ll want to chat with other readers about! Out in AU with @hachetteaus and in US with @riverheadbooks.

The Performance highlights both the histrionics in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, as well as the drama in the lives of Margot, Summer and Ivy. We catch a glimpse of the personas that each of these women in several situations, and the struggles they have in grappling with who they really are. They all hold a lot of doubt. They are all conflicted in their roles in the world and in the lives of their significant others, and they are all seeking something. Margot’s life is tinged with shame from the violence she experienced at the hands of her ill husband. Ivy felt like an impersonator. Summer seemed so naïve, and so conflicted with anxiety.

The interval was a unique moment in the book where all three women seemed to come together and connect: a play within a play within a play. Were they acting like they were acting while they were acting? Were these women giving up being an imposter in their very own lives? They all appear to be safe in the city theatre while the heat blazes outside and the city outskirts start to burn; a reflection of Beckett’s play where there is no shade nor protection from the elements and wasteland that consumes and swallows Winnie.

As the title suggests, this novel centres around a performance. Three unconnected women are attending the performance of Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, and as the play unfolds so does their internal musings about their own lives.

I'm not generally a literary fiction reader so I need to preface my enjoyment of the book on the acknowledgement that a fair bit of it probably was very clever and sailed right over my head. For example, I am not familiar with the performance that the story is centered around but from my internet readings I can see that there were parallels the author was drawing.
However, I found the idea of being inside people's heads during a play very clever and intriguing. I felt I was right there with them watching the strange demise of Winne and Willie while also thinking about what was happening in their own lives at the time.

It is a short book with well developed characters and for those who enjoy some thinking and literary fiction with their reads, I would highly recommend this.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

"To have been what I always am – and so changed from what I was." (from “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett).
I found The Performance extraordinary. It's certainly my standout read for the year so far.
The three main characters, from whose perspectives the narratives are alternately related, each (separately) view the same Melbourne production of Samuel Beckett's beguiling play Happy Days. Intertwined with their reactions to the action on-stage are their private musings. These range from the minutiae of physical discomfort due to other theatre patrons or the temperature in the theatre, to their reflections on turning points in their personal histories, massive life decisions and the challenges they're currently facing.
Margot, a university literature professor in later middle age, who has reached the pinnacle of her profession, is facing unwelcome pressure to retire, to make space for "new blood" in her faculty, while simultaneously suffering from her husband's decline into dementia and their adult son's apparent indifference to her.
Summer, a 20-something drama student, is working as an usher in the theatre to supplement her meagre income. She's preoccupied by the knowledge of a bushfire currently raging on Melbourne's outskirts, to which her girlfriend April has rushed, in hope of helping her parents save their bushland home.
Ivy, in her early 40s is attending the play as an honoured guest, in anticipation of the large donation her philanthropic organisation will make to future productions. While on the surface she appears the urbane woman who has it all, she's struggling with new motherhood, after a hiatus of fifteen years since her first child died from SIDS.
There are many common themes running through the three women's search for identity and self-fulfilment in the face of their insecurities. Each of the three characters is well-developed, multifaceted and beguiling. Unlike my reader experience with many titles using a multi-narrator format, I didn't find that I was more drawn to one story than the other(s), ploughing through one narrative to return to the more interesting one. While, in terms of age and life-stage, I have most in common with Ivy, I found personal resonances within all three of the women's stories.
I'll admit I don't have a great familiarity with the work of Samuel Beckett, and hit the internet mid-read to bring myself up to speed. While I don't feel that knowledge of the play would be necessary to enjoyment of this book, I was greatly impressed by the way Claire Thomas cleverly interwove and echoed the themes from Happy Days into The Performance.
This was an enthralling and stimulating read, and I would recommend The Performance to any and all readers who seek intelligent contemporary fiction or are interested in the lived experience of women in modern society.
My thanks to the author, Claire Thomas, publisher Hachette Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent title.

I really loved how the stories of the three women connected as they all went to watch a performance at the theater. I love how it unfolded as we read their inner thoughts and how we saw the performance too through their eyes, and how their opinions differed on it! There were moments where I did want more, and the plot slightly dragged. But otherwise a really enjoyable read!
Thank you to Hachette Australia and NetGalley for the EARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be honest, I was confused by this one when I started out reading it. I didn’t really know where the “story” was headed or even how it was going to get there. However, once I realised, I just had to read the story and not be so focused on what it was about, or what I was supposed to think about, I truly began to enjoy it.

The Performance is about three women of different ages, different backgrounds, sexual orientation, race, and all at different stages of their life, attending a Samuel Beckett play in Melbourne. The play is technically a character itself, in my opinion, with the happenings on stage often prompting a thought, or some sort of response, from our main women.

Margot, a professor, is feeling like she is being put out to pasture and felling inadequate in her familial relationships with her adult son and her sick her husband. Summer, a student/theatre usher, wanted to finally catch the beginning of the play, but instead is distracted by her personal life and the concern she has for her girlfriend. Ivy, got free tickets because the theatre/company wants her money, but her distraction lies with thoughts of her troubled beginnings, her seemingly perfect life and with the man who is asleep in his seat.

As the play progresses, we, as reader, delve into the each of the women’s inner monologue as they reflect over their lives (or parts thereof), their relationships, their futures. The way this story is written really drew me in and I felt like their thoughts were mine. I felt like I was sitting in that theatre and experiencing their lives with them. I enjoyed the fact that each part of this story was this character’s own and the link between them was their attendance at the play.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this one.

Fantastic concept and richly-drawn characters, but I think it could have dug deeper into the connection between the Beckett play and the characters.

‘Excuse me.’

Three different women are watching the performance of a Samuel Beckett play in Melbourne. It is 40 degrees C outside, and the country around Melbourne is burning. But inside the theatre, the air conditioning makes it cool, and easy to escape from the outside world. Or does it?

The performance unfolds, as do the women’s stories. There’s little dialogue: we are readers of each woman’s internal monologue.

Margot, a professor, has just had a dreaded conversation about retirement, with the dean. Her trip to the theatre has been difficult and she is preoccupied. Her husband is ailing. The play has started.
Summer, a student, is working as a theatre usher. Because of her role, she misses the beginning of the play – again. But Summer is preoccupied, anyway, because her girlfriend April was travelling into the fire zone to help her parents.

Ivy, younger than Margot, is distracted by a man snoring in the seat next to her. She is a philanthropist who has received free tickets to the play because the theatre company wants her money. Ivy is thinking about the past.
Three women of different ages and backgrounds separately watching ‘Happy Days’, a two-act play with an ambiguous ending. And the women? What will happen next for each of them now the play is over?

I admire the structure of this novel, the way in which Ms Thomas uses the performance of ‘Happy Days’ to bring these separate stories together without constructing an artificial connection between the women. Each woman’s monologue invites the reader to think about their own life: past and present, as well as to envisage the future. Watching a play is a very solitary activity, even in a crowd. Because the audience is static, seated and focussed (in varying degrees) the play on the stage becomes a backdrop for reflection, for each of the three women whose stories we become part of. And for readers as well.

Highly recommended.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Outside the Melbourne theatre that serves as the location and backdrop for this story, Victoria is on fire. Inside, the air conditioning is too cold, and 3 women, all from different ages and upbringings, watch a Samuel Beckett play which forces them to reflect on their lives, their current situations, and plan their next moves once the play is over.

The Performance is a unique and cleverly written novel exploring the notion of assumption, identity, shame and what people think about when locked in darkened rooms with nothing but their thoughts for company.

It’s subtle, modern, has 3 impressive and strong female leads, and as we move through the play, so do we move through their lives, the choices they’ve made, and the choices they wish to make on the future. Definitely one book that I’ll be thinking about long after today.

Many thanks to Claire Thomas, Hachette Australia and NetGalley for an arc of this book.

Claire Thomas is one very clever writer.

The Performance is a story of 3 women, from different generations, and their individual experiences whilst watching a performance at the theatre. There is very little dialogue or anything extra to the plotline, it is primarily their inner thoughts like a running monologue for each one.

I really enjoyed it. I think Thomas does a great job of telling each woman's back story and their current situations, both their private lives and the sleves they present to the world. And each woman was quite interesting in their own way. It's that old adage about not judging someone until you've walked in their shoes - as these woman (the older 2 anyway) appear from the outside to have it all.

I liked the way the actual performance was weaved into the stories too, and how different lines in the play triggered different thoughts and feelings for the women. It was all very cleverly done. It has also made me want to see this actual play 'Happy Days" by Samuel Beckett. It sounds disturbing, but very interesting!

Overall, I think this is a smart, modern, story with exceptional writing.

It took me awhile to get into this. I admit i put it aside while i read two others but just like an intermission thats what i needed. Once i returned i became enchanted and the story unfolded.

Three women viewing their lives present, past and reflecting on decisions for the future while attending a Samuel Beckett play. With a few highlights in their lives, I found each person's story fairly depressing and found myself sad as this is what real life is for many people.
Having made these comments I would still recommend this well-written tome as a portrait of other peoples lives.
An independent review thanks to NetGalley / Hatchette Aus.

“The Performance”
How much of your life is a performance?

SYNOPSIS
Three women are watching a play in the cool environment of a Melbourne theatre while bush fires ravage Australia outside. As the play unfolds, the women find that their own trauma and anxiety are triggered by the lead character’s performance. Margot is a prominent university professor who’s doing her best to hide the trauma of her childhood and her husband’s declining health. Summer is a drama student working as a theatre usher who is concerned about her partner who is stuck in the bushfires. Ivy is the head of successful philanthropic institution who is gripped with personal grief. By the end of ‘The Performance’ each woman comes to poignant realisations about the roles they play in their own drama.

MY REVIEW
‘The Performance’ by Claire Thomas is an extraordinary novel which beautifully articulates the pressures of being a modern woman by immersing the reader into the minds of its complicated characters. Contemporary women have a lot to deal with; climate change anxiety, motherhood pressures, career stress and mental health issues to name a few. It was fascinating to enter the minds of these women to understand how they compartmentalised their worries in order to cope with their lives.
I usually fail to understand the purpose of dialogue without quotation marks. However, in this instance, its effect was deployed beautifully in the context of the “stream of consciousness” narrative where the absence of quotation marks artfully blurred the lines between the characters’ speech and their thoughts.
Readers who appreciate the “stream of consciousness” narrative reminiscent of Virginia Woolf’s “To the Light House” will enjoy this book. I highly recommend ‘The Performance’ to anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of contemporary women.

Thank you to @netgalley and @hatchetteaus for this advanced reader copy which comes out on 23 February 2021.

Trigger Warning: sexual abuse, sudden infant death syndrome, domestic violence and anxiety.

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

I was very excited for Claire Thomas' THE PERFORMANCE. A novel set during a production of a Beckett play in Melbourne? Clearly written for me. Thomas depicts three separate women: two audience members and one usher during a production of Samuel Beckett's HAPPY DAYS at the Arts Centre in Melbourne. Bushfires are raging in Victoria as these women sit in relative comfort and privilege.

Thomas details the inner lives of these women, and I was reminded of Meg Wolitzer's THE WIFE and Gail Jones' FIVE BELLS. Unfortunately there's not enough dramatic tension or detail to sustain a novel. I wanted more. And the use of the bushfires seems to be a device to cause some sort of drama, rather than an opportunity to show a character trait or development.

Still, there is enough here of interest and I look forward to her next novel. Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette and Claire Thomas for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.