“But why wouldn’t you give it five stars?” asked my plus-one as we scurried back to the car. And so began a 40-minute drive discussing what we liked about the one-person play Funeral Flowers at Red Stitch Theatre and what was, and still is, holding me back from rounding up that last half-star.

If you had rolled up next to my car, you would’ve seen two bobbleheads nodding furiously about the production led by director Candy Bowers: “The writing was amazing”, “Lucy was a chameleon”, “I loved how the sound and lighting shifted us from location to location”, “Did you see they got UK chips for her prop?”

Lucy Ansell in Funeral Flowers. Photo © Jess D’cruze

Bowers opened the show’s season by sharing how proud she was of the production. As she should be. She created a space for Lucy Ansell, playing Angelique, and Emma Dennis-Edwards’ script, about Angelique’s experience of sexual assault and her mother’s incarceration, to shine.

I was enthralled by Dennis-Edwards’ writing. She sprinkles rhymes into the script with lines like, “It’s been half a year but half our [school] year don’t know,” in reference to Angelique’s hidden relationship. She plays with lyricism, livening up moments of exposition that see Ansell break out into grime-style rap. And while there are moments that ring false to how young people talk – I refuse to believe teens would say, “I’m 17 years old and just trying to nurture my seeds” – Dennis-Edwards captures how young people express, or struggle to express, their experiences. I hope to see her other work make it to Naarm.

My friend and I came back to that pesky half-star. Critics will discuss whether star ratings are arbitrary for hours. The lack of an industry-wide star-rating scale makes me lean towards the affirmative. But I learned from Margaret and David that you have to find a critic who shares your taste and be guided by what they like (let me shamelessly suggest that you check out my prior Limelight reviews).

I give 4.5 stars to a production that did what it set out to do to an impeccably high standard, and five stars to a show that changes how I look at theatre, or the world, or has a je ne sais quoi that means I’ll remember it for years to come. It’s a pretty exclusive tier.

Lucy Ansell in Funeral Flowers. Photo © Jess D’cruze

The sticking point for me is the limits of Funeral Flowers’ narrative. The depiction of Angelique’s sexual assault and how she processes it follows convention, moving through well-worn story beats and imagery. Her experience navigating the foster-care and emergency-housing systems paints a complimentary picture of youth services, suggesting that young people can climb out of poverty and insecurity if they have willpower, ambition and self-compassion. And if they just communicated their needs a bit better, there would be a bevy of adults ready to help. It’s a common but arguably dangerous perspective that ignores the systemic forces that keep people poor and vulnerable.

But Funeral Flowers is fantastic theatre thanks to Dennis-Edwards’ writing style and voice, Ansell’s stellar performance, and Bowers’ direction, which brings every piece together perfectly.

Funeral Flowers plays at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Melbourne until 23 August.