Few plays handle the quiet complexities of family duty with as much tenderness as ‘Sisyphean Quick Fix’, Bettina Paris’ semi-autobiographical debut now playing at Riverside Studios. Set between London and Malta, the story follows two sisters, Krista and Pip, forced to confront the worsening alcoholism of their father, a man whose reckless behaviour has long been their shared burden.
Paris plays Krista, a struggling actor in London juggling auditions and bar shifts, while Tina Rizzo’s character, Pip remains in Malta, holding down a steady job and a seemingly more conventional life. What unfolds is a careful dissection of how physical distance can breed resentment, as the sisters wrestle with uneven responsibilities, and the question of what anyone truly owes a parent who repeatedly hits the self-destruct button, and the toll that unspoken guilt can take on a family already fraying at the edges.
Paris’ writing is strongest and brightest in the early moments where she writes with warmth and an acute ear for sibling dynamics. The sisters spar, comfort, and tease each other, as sisters often do, and there’s a beautiful ease in their exchanges that feels lived-in and authentic. The dialogue is at times biting, funny, and deeply familiar, and there’s a particular authenticity in how the characters dance around the truth. The emotional weight is carried with subtlety and skilfully by both performers, capturing how care and frustration often sit side by side in families dealing with addiction. However, the production struggles to fully sustain the intensity of its subject matter throughout its full 60 minutes, not helped by Nicky Allpress’ direction, which feels uncertain, blocky and forced at times, particularly as the narrative shifts from brisk, transatlantic phone calls to Krista’s return home. The moving of set pieces and props seems wholly unnecessary, and what should feel like an emotional crescendo instead loses momentum, with the later scenes flattening rather than deepening the stakes.
The design choices don’t help with this either. Matthew Cassar’s set, cluttered with cardboard boxes, possibly is aiming for symbolism, perhaps evoking baggage, transience, or emotional weight. The earlier productions utilised large luggage trunks to portray the same message, but this latest design choice feels a little like a rushed afterthought and is quite ineffective. Rather than anchoring the story, the boxes cheapen the staging, adding little except visual clutter.
What lingers, however, is the honest portrayal of sibling bonds, messy, loyal, and deeply human. ‘Sisyphean Quick Fix’ doesn’t quite land every blow, but it has a beautifully written, raw script, that opens a necessary conversation about the impossible choices families face when love and duty collide.
‘Sisyphean Quick Fix’ runs at Riverside Studios until 6th April. Tickets are available here: https://riversidestudios.co.uk
Reviewer: Alan Stuart Malin
Reviewed: 19th March 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 3 out of 5.
