Unreconciled

The use of posture, voice, hand gestures and more differentiates Sefton’s characters without need for props or costumes. Sefton even plays the voice in his head, sparring with his own scolding altar ego. Then there’s the stamina required to be alone on stage for 80 minutes telling your own, excruciatingly personal story. Sefton holds his audience spellbound. The play slides between the past and the distant past, between the pageant, family dinners which occasionally included Father Tom, meetings with church lawyers and Sefton’s struggle to come to terms with his own story. In a play that has many uncomfortable and upsetting moments, perhaps the most heartbreaking is when Sefton recalls that all the kids in the play knew what was happening; even if they couldn’t name it, “we were not fooled.” “No one called it abuse, so I don’t either.” The adults who could have prevented it either didn’t know or were in denial.