REcollection

Scent design for the premiere season of Recollection, 26 June – 7 July 2024, at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne. At key moments, custom-designed scents were diffused into the theatre, bridging the abstract nature of grief with the tangible aroma of memories, as the smells of fruits, spices, leather, dirt and skin synthesise into the full picture of a person.

Presented by Pot Kettle Black Productions

In the recent past, Molly, a teenage girl, falls in love with Jenna, a new school friend. Molly’s mother, Olivia, is troubled by Jenna’s recklessness and tendency towards self-destruction. The relationship between the two girls blooms in secret.

Now, Molly has died without warning, and Olivia is left to pick up the pieces of her life, seeking to remember Molly by her smell – as a perfume. Olivia must come to terms with who her daughter really was, and who she was going to become, to capture her volatile essence. She must take Jenna as part of Molly.

Directed by Cathy Hunt (7 Captiva Rd, Chapel off Chapel, Love/Chamberlain, Theatre Works), this new queer play offers a sensory experience for audiences, employing scent to capture the play’s delicate interpretation of grief, decay, and blooming.

Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants, the University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts and Music and Ms. Beck Wilkinson. Creative Development Support by Next Wave.