Almost Face To Face by Stephen House

When Stephen House describes himself as “an old man”, there is a realisation that, indeed, decades have rolled past since the writer/performer first brought his words to the Adelaide stage. His audiences have shared his life story as he wrote and travelled and agonised over his identity, It could sound terribly self-indulgent but the thing is that House is good at what he does and, despite the decidedly and sometimes shockingly seamy side of his path, he has been a stayer with heart and style......So here he is, back at the Bakehouse looking leathery and wrinkled albeit strong and fit. ...His stage presence now is confident, practised, and expert. With seaming ease, he leads his audience through darkest landscapes of emotion and depravity on a river of simply wonderful prose. Over and over, one finds oneself pausing to admire a turn of phrase or expression of House’s thought....This is not a show for prudes or the unworldly. But, with Stephen Dean’s fine lighting and House’s stage skills perhaps at their zenith, it is a powerful piece of theatre.