Reminder: What Melbourne Loved 2016

It's time to send your favourite to me. Really. I don't have enough for a series yet.

10 November 2016

So, yesterday happened and the lump in the world's heart is palpable.

Blessed, Matt Hickey, Olivia Monticcicolo. Phtoto by Sarah Walker

I went to the theatre and saw Blessed, a gorgeously dark and loving play by Attic Erratic (written by Fleur Kilpatrick, directed by Danny Delahunty). It's about finding the holy in unexpected places and people, which is where god always knew it was hidden. For an hour, a room full of people could be in a world that wasn't yesterday's world. It felt good.

At the party after, which was celebrating the launch of the second Poppy Seed Festival, I watched Ross Wilson (Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock) sing a song I remember pashing to as teenager and then he danced to a Madonna song with a group of 40-something women. And the world felt right for a while.

There's been a loud call to bring "What Melbourne Loved" back and today is an excellent day to remind ourselves of the power and anger and the hope and healing of theatre and art.

To take part, email me your answers to:

What was your favourite moment in Melbourne theatre in 2016?
It could be a show, a performance, an overheard comment in an interval, a thought the next day or anything that gave you that jolt that says "this is why we do this".

I know some of you like to write a lot, but try to keep it succinct, because there's a second questions this year.

What are you looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017?
It could be something that is programmed to happen or something that you wish for.

Also send me your favourite photo of you and credit the photographer if you can.

I've just read though the past years and, dammit, we've got so many amazing people working, living and passing through this city. I can't wait to start reading and sharing. They'll start in December.

If you haven't contributed before, please do.

And please get a lot to me by the end of November. I'll keep going in December until we run out, but I need a lot to get us started. If you see something amazing after you've done yours, we can update.

2014
2013
2012

Guest review: The City They Burned

The City They Burned
Attic Erratic
22 September 2014

Review by Kevin Turner

Photo by Sarah Walker

The City They Burned was sold out and then some by the time I saw it. It was a hugely successful season for Attic Erratic that’s all done now and tickets were rare as hens teeth when it was on, so there's not much point encouraging people to see it. But the performances raised a lot of questions and discussion points, as seen on social and other media; so, let's dive into that.

It tells the story of Lot and the city of Sodom. Being thousands of years old, let's not be cagey about spoilers. Split into two incredibly distinct acts, Fleur Kilpatrick's text focuses on, the judgement of the city by Inspectors (angels) in the first act, and the life of Lot and his family after the destruction of the city in the second act. But it wasn't just the text that created the difference between acts, there was also a challenging shift in form. Here was where I most struggled.

The first act was a masterpiece of immersion and direction. Set in a dinner party, the audience were thrown straight into the action and, with barely any warning, were employees of the factory city of Sodom. Its fate was intrinsically tied to our own. It took a moment for that to sink in, but by the time the audience realised what was happening and how culpable they were in it then it was too late. Their city had been condemned and they had stood by; they hadn't merely watched, they had mingled and chatted while Lot and his cronies desperately tried to sway the Inspectors from their decision.

Here, credit for the fantastic orchestration of form goes to director Danny Delahunty. The organised chaos within which the audience found themselves was the perfect blend of immersion and distance, of safety and risk. It was a thrill to be a part of and left me wanting more.

The performances were also engaging, particularly from the secondary characters. Dave Lamb's Isaac and Brendan McCallum's Abaddon were particular standouts here. McCallum's Abaddon was a perfect foil for Lot (Scott Gooding). He established a genial and warm relationship but maintained the strong presence and motives of the working everyman. Lamb's Isaac existed in the background and did so beautifully. I found myself constantly drawn to him; a commanding presence in the work and one who never forgot that he could be being watched at any moment.

After the excitement that was the first act, the second was jarring. Now the audience found themselves in a seating bank, watching what appeared to be a straight play/family drama – admittedly one set in a cave following the levelling of the family's city and the turning of their friends into pillars of salt. This act was technically solid but after the rampant madness of the first, it was difficult to engage.

It felt like two separate plays/adaptations of the same source material. The text also started to more clearly show itself in the second act. No longer hiding itself behind the stellar direction, Kilpatrick's, admittedly exquisitely beautiful words, floundered in performance. There was too much poetry in the work, too much beauty and it cheapened the story of the family on stage. The second act was a disappointing end to a show that was so exciting during the first.

Despite that end, The City They Burned is a work to be immensely proud of. A huge congratulations to all involved and a massive thank you for the introduction to watermelon, prosciutto and feta, it really is "just one of those combinations".

My review.

FRINGE part 7

This is not a love song
28 September 2014
Fringe Hub, Meeting Room
to 4 October 2014
melbournefringe.com.au

There's something very endearing and sweet about This is not a love song.* 

Greg Fleet is a middle-aged man re-living the memories of his first significant love. His younger self is Shane Adamczak and his love is Tegan Mulvany (who also directed the show). The memories are so close that he can reach out and make them better by having a live 1980s-favourites soundtrack from Michael de Grussa (who was in All Out Of Pride) that all four sing along to.

It needs some help with structure and story-telling technique (conflict isn't people having a tiff), but this doesn't distract from the nostalgic and emotional heart that makes this story so lovely.

*Yep, I called Fleety endearing and sweet.

Angry Sexx

28 September 2014

Fringe Hub, Upstairs at Errols

to 4 October 2014

melbournefringe.com.au

Angry Sexx, by Rachel Perks and directed by Bridget Balodis, is created by young women who are rightly angry about the barrage of sexism and objectification they face every day. As someone old enough to relate to the songs in Greg Fleet's show, I left sad and angry that young women still have deal with this crap, but thrilled that they are angry and making people see it from their side of the unbalanced picture.

With texts, chats and IRL conversations, two friends fail to see the hell that the other is going through and unknowingly encapsulate everything that contributes to the other's suffering. One doesn't want sex with her boyfriend and starts running; her friend says she needs a good fuck. The other is fucking strangers; her friend thinks she's a slut who's asking for it.

Anger comes from hurt. We don't get angry until the hurt becomes too much to bear. And when the anger's too much to bear, we act without being able see the consequences. This space between anger and consequences makes for great theatre.

And there are futuristic monkeys in holagram plastic tunics. They're funny and enjoyable monkeys who are looking at relics of women from now, but I don't know how the stories work together.

Tripped
Attic Erratic

28 September 2014

Fringe Hub, Lithuanian Club, The Ballroom

to 4 October 2014

melbournefringe.com.au

Tripped is Attic Erratic's second show for the Fringe. It became impossible to get a ticket to their The City They Burned. 

Nick Musgrove's new play was inspired by Alex Buzo's 1968 play Norm and Ahmed, where a middle-aged white guy attacks a "fucking boong" from Pakistan. It looks with shame at socially accepted attitudes of the 1960s when racial hate wasn't seen with the knowledge and horror that we see it with now.

And how I wish that were true. Every time I read a newspaper or watch the news, I am more ashamed at how Australia is hurtling backwards politically and socially and becoming a place that isn't safe and welcoming. It's heartbreaking to know just how relevant Tripped has become in the last week.

This play takes us into a Middle East war zone – who knew Australia would be back in one so soon! – where Norm's an Australian soldier (Angus Brown) and Ahmed's a "rag head" civilian (Ezel Doruk) who studied in Australia and can joke about Cronulla. But the jokes aren't easy when they are in a mine field and both have a foot on a mine. 

Director Celeste Cody seems to be going for a very dark humour, but the tone is inconsistent and at times easy laughs make it easy to ignore the reflection of ourselves and put the story onto bogan soldier boys and mad priests. This isn't helped by uneven performances; there's a chasm between playing for a laugh and letting a script be funny. 

The conflict and the characters are sometimes a bit obvious, but there's enough bubbling below the surface to make us pay attention and this is going to be a show that's talked about.

Some of these are on AussieThearte.com.

FRINGE part 1

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2014

Head to Twitter, follow @SometimesMelb and search for #mFringe to get involved in the discussions, get the word on the unmissable shows, tell reviewers how wrong they are, and decide who you want to meet at the Fringe Club. 

But I'm still old-school at heart, so will post some mini reviews (that might be my tweets and a bit).

The City They Burned

Attic Erratic

6 September 2014

Cavern Table Performance Space

to 23 September – but check the Fringe site because this might change

melbournefringe.com.au

Review

Helium

The YouTube Comment Orchestra

The Last Tuesday Society

18 September 2014

Tower Theatre, Coopers Malthouse

to 27 September

melbournefringe.com.au

Big LOLs. Just like the internet only smarter and with more butter.

The Last Tuesday mob on a Thursday was enough to blow my mind. And they get to do it all again. So you can see them twice or freak them out by going every night and sitting in the front row.

Bron Batten and Richard Higgins are the founders of the society. They choose a theme and give it to some of the best alternative cabaret/comedy/performance artists around. I still haven't quite recovered from the "Don's Party" night and I never want another December without a Last Tuesday Xmas party.

Everything at The YouTube Comment Orchestra is based on YouTube comments. It's bloody wonderful and justifies the many hours that we spend on YouTube.

Being a part of Helium, I wondered if we'd see something wildly different but I can't complain because I laughed myself a bit sick.

Media Release

19 September 2014

Fringe Hub, Court House Hotel 2

to 26 September

melbournefringe.com.au

It's hard not to enjoy a show that's made with love and passion. This one has some terrific jokes (I will always laugh at latte foam art) and it's a great idea for a story, but the writing isn't working as a story and it's is more a showcase for the performers. 

I had to miss the last scene because it was running overtime and late. If the guide say 50 mins, don't be upset if people have to leave to get to their next show. 

You Took The Stars

19 September 2014

Fringe Hub, start outside North Melbourne Town Hall

to 26 September

melbournefringe.com.au

This one also ran a bit late, but I was so happy to be in the space and sharing the story. 

The dank and miserable lane way next to the North Melbourne Town Hall is transformed as designer, Yvette Turnbull, and director, Alice Darling, create a welcoming and gorgeous space that makes the world for this play feel so perfect that it's hard to imagine it being anywhere else. 

Cat Commander's writing is equally as gorgeous. With a pegasus called Mona, pink dolphins and the stars inside apples, she lets us fall in love with her Maisie and Paul – and a guitar-playing monkey – as they fall in love and try to find out what that means.

And it all comes together with totally engaging and beautiful performances by John Shearman and Kasia Kaczmarek – and Matt Furlani's guitar-playing monkey.

This only has a short run and there aren't many seats, so it's one to book.

And here's an interview with writer Cat Commander from the super-wonderful School for Birds blog. It's great. Read it for the discussion about re-drafting and re-drafting, about how the actors made it real for themselves, and about why we keep performing American plays.


PS.  You Took the Stars owes You Turn Away, And Never Once Turn Your Head a drink for waiting for me.

Some of these are on AussieTheatre.com.

Reveiw: The City They Burned

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2014
The City They Burned
Attic Erratic
6 September 2014
Cavern Table Performance Space
to 23 September
atticerratic.com

Photo by Sarah Walker

Attic Erratic's The City They Burned is a re-telling of the Genesis story of Lot and his family. I remember learning about godly Lot at my Anglican school: Lot is told by God and his angels to get out of town, Lot's selfish wife looks back at their town of Sodom and God turns her into a pillar of salt for questioning his will and valuing her materialistic life.

Like slabs of the Old Testament, the understanding of what makes a good person is subjective and bits of the stories are often missed in the telling. When I drew Bible story pictures at primary school, they didn't include gang rape, incest, incest-rape and God generally being a dick by destroying everyone, except Lot, with a rain of fire. And we didn't discuss how Sodom gave us the word sodomy.

This tale is from books – the story of Lot is also in the Quran and the Torah – that continue to control so many people's lives, morality and decisions. As long as these stories keep being told, we need to keep looking at them to try to understand and continue to question why they are still at the core of so much in our society.

Writer Fleur Kilpatrick says that she wants to question the concept of bad or evil. What did the people of the city of Sodom do to deserve being wiped off the face of God's good earth?

What would happen if God were removed from the story?

Is a godless world compassionless and devoid of hope? Is it any different from a God-loved world?

Photo by Sarah Walker

Welcome to Sodom, where Lot (Scott Gooding) and his wife Ado (Jessica Tanner) are our hosts at a party. Lot is the manager of the factory where the good men of Sodom (Brendan McCallum, Dave Lamb and Soren Jensen) work. No one has heard from anyone in nearby Gomorrah in the last hours and they are getting worried as the party is in the honour of two inspectors (Dushan Philips and Kane Felsinger) who have just left Gomorrah. These men are outsiders; they dress strangely and don't look like Sodomites; they don't drink and they have a power that no one really understands.

The theatre is a converted warehouse in Collingwood. The audience go into a large living room that's  op shop chic with touches of "I want that" and "the eyes are following me" (designed by Rob Sowinski). We're offered food on sticks and drinks – bring $5; you'll want a drink – and it takes a while to realise that the performance has started and that we're the guests at a party where there's no line between audience and stage.

Conversations take place concurrently or in corners that only some people can see. Some of the most telling action happens in reactions; don't feel bad for turning your back on an actor. The actors treat the audience like known friends or workmates and some people don't like their conversations being overheard.

At one point, I was the only person watching Thamma (Shoshannah Oks) and Pheine (Brianagh Curran), Lot and Ada's daughter's, and one gave me a look that made me look away. Not long after, Ada stood near me as the worst thing she could imagine was happening metres away and I wondered if I should comfort her.

Director Danny Delahunty ensures that the overall story is clear and keeps moving. The details are bonus secret moments that might only be shared between one person and an actor and may not happen at all in another performance.

As the mood of the party goes from fun to awkward to dangerous – the inspectors aren't there to do good –  the audience is made to feel more and more uncomfortable, and it takes faith to trust that we are safe and only watching a game of make believe.

Photo by Sarah Walker

The second half of the night takes place in an old attic that's been transformed into a more traditional theatre space. Here, the audience are allowed back into the safe role of unseen watchers, but the room is small and close and dark.

Lot and his family escaped to a cave that isn't dark enough to not see what happens in the blackness. There are worse things than being turned into a salty metaphor, and it asks: what would you do if you thought you were the only humans left on earth.

While the first half makes the audience feel complicit in the decisions made at the party (none of us objected), the second half makes the audience watch the unfolding consequences of those decisions.

It's not easy theatre to watch.

But it's theatre that questions how form and writing can work so closely that it's impossible to see where one ends and the other begins. Kilpatrick's writing is so beautiful and strong that it disappears and doesn't sound like writing because we're so immersed in the immediate experience of being in Sodom.

Meanwhile Delahunty's unseen control makes sure that the moments and connections that need to be seen aren't missed. In the cave, I kept remembering seeing Thamma hug her dad at every opportunity at the party.

And the cast are exceptional. There's no safely zone of a stage for them to hide in either.

The City They Burned declares Attic Erratic as the next independent company to make a mark so unforgettable that a hole would exist in Melbourne's theatre scene without them. In the last three years, they've developed from theatre graduates doing their thing (I called them vanilla) to theatre makers who are getting bolder and more unforgettable with each production.

The audience capacity for this show is very limited and is already selling out. Book now and don't wait until their Fringe season.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Last chance: Green Screen and Purgatorio

What really must end this weekend is my time with a gastrointestinal virus. I'm excited that I can now get out of bed, but am leaving myself in quarantine until there is no sign of it. It doesn't needs sharing and I'm on my way to becoming an obsessive hand washer.

As I don't write well in the bathroom, some great shows missed out on reviews and they finish this weekend. There's time to see them both. Unless you are sick. Then stay home.

NEON
Green Screen
Sans Hotel
Lawler
finishes Sunday
mtc.com.au

Nicola Gunn's Green Screen ends the second NEON Festival of Independent Theatre. I can't compare her theatre to anything because Gunn creates work that is like her unconscious explaining her soul.

The more of her work that I see, the less I understand it. And I never want to. I'm scared that if I begin to see how her creations work,  I'll begin to see the trick. Meanwhile, I have no idea how something that begins with a line of toy animals, hummus pasta, a green monster blow-up mattress and gold body paint can say so much and be so personal to someone who has never eaten hummus pasta.

And she's joined by Nat Cursio, Tom Davies, Jonno Katz and Kerith Manderson-Galvin who meet, talk and sing in a community centre that tries to calm with beach-scene wall paper. They are a complete joy.

Green Screen is bitingly cynical but deeply loving and, in a breath, the final moments bring the work's disparate events together to let us know what it's all been about. It's beautiful.


Purgatorio
5Pound and Attic Erratic
The Owl and the Pussycat
finishes Saturday
facebook.com

Well, you might not be able to see this because it's sold out. But it can't hurt to call and check.

Melbourne audiences generally like to let a show run for a bit until they see it. This often means that people miss out on great shows by being cautious and waiting to hear if it's worth seeing. Lesson: go early and be among the people making the word of mouth.

Purgatorio is by Chilien-American playwright Ariel Dorfman, who's best known for Death and the Maiden. Here Purgatory is the soulless empty between Heaven and Hell where a Man interrogates a Woman over the murder of her children, and a Woman interrogates a Man about his guilt over his wife's death. It doesn't take long to recognise the Greek myth the stories are from, but it's far more than a reflection on Medea and Jason as Dorfman continues to explore what it takes for humans to do the unthinkable and if there's hope for redemption in a world set on revenge.

Director Celeste Cody finds the endless layers in the script without giving away its secrets, and she uses the tiny space of the Owl and the Pussycat to create a dark and empty world that's neither hellish nor real. And by placing the audience on either side of the room, each side naturally align themselves with Man or Woman.

But Freya Pragt and Jason Cavanagh ensure that the audience's allegiances are never firm. Both performances are riveting, but it's how they work together that makes this script so frighteningly real.

The Container Festival

The Container Festival

MUST

Monash University, Clayton

2–20 August

monashstudentassociation.com

Facebook page

Just when it looks like there might be a week without an arts festival in Melbourne, along comes the inaugural Container Festival presented by MUST, the Monash University Student Theatre association.

From August 2 to 20, a performance hub of shipping containers is being set up at Monash University in Clayton. The containers are performance venues and the MUST theatre is being transformed into a lounge bar.

With over 200 diverse performances and exhibitions including music, dance, theatre, visual art, games, burlesque, poetry and puppetry, the festival is designed to showcase and encourage student and graduate talent, while engaging the university and local community in an interactive and welcoming way.

MUST Artistic Director, Yvonne Virsik says, “It will ignite cultural engagement and expression, foster innovation and provide brilliant and affordable entertainment.”

It’s a bit like a mini Fringe festival, but there are no participation fees for the artists, it’s in one place and tickets are very affordable.

There are lots of FREE events, but the bargain is a $50 Festival Pass that gives you entry to every festival event. Day passes are only $15 or tickets for individual shows range from $2 to $8.

With offerings including one-on-one story telling, an espionage caper game called Dead Drop, 10-minute dance parties, Vietnamese folk takes, a Bingo Bonanza (with “genuine $2-shop quality prizes), performances from the Monash Jazz Orchestra and an intriguing piece called Belgian Roulette where you have to choose between two chocolate brownies (one of which is filled with chili), the Container Festival promises a unique experience for every visitor.

Theatre highlights include a workshop production of Robert Reid’s new work Bacchae Rising and new works by Fleur Kilpatrick and Tom Molyneux.

The festival launches with an opening party on Friday 2 August from 6 pm. Entry is FREE and there will be plenty of chances to meet the artists and have a sneak peak at the performances.

Monash arts graduates and MUST members continue to make an impact on the Melbourne (and Australian) independent and professional arts scene and there’s likely to be a former MUST member in most local companies from writers to performers to general managers.

Playwrights like Declan Greene and Amelia Roper had their first full-length works performed at Monash; local companies Attic Erratic, Quiet Little Fox and A Modern Deception met at Monash; and creators like Sarah Collins, Daniel Lammin, Mark Wilson, Celeste Cody, Tom Pitts, Sarah Walker, Danny Delahunty and Kaitlyn Claire all began their careers in MUST productions.

Events and festivals like this are vital to develop and encourage emerging artists and to give more experienced artists an opportunity to experiment and give new work its first outing.

The Container Festival is a terrific opportunity to see and engage with the next generation of Melbourne artists and performers.

And remember that Clayton campus is only a 20-minute drive from the city and there's parking or  public transport will drop you at the door.

Glitter photo by Sarah Walker.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Review: Domino

DOMINO
Attic Erratic
19 June 2013
Abbotsford Convent
to 29 June
atticerratic.com

Young independent company Attic Erratic started performing and working together in 2010 and are well on their way to being on of those companies who you have to see what they do next.

I missed quite a bit of their early stuff, but not anymore. If you don't know them, start with DOMINO.

Firstly, it's on at the gorgeous Abbotsford Convent in the slightly creepy Industrial School (follow the signs near Lentil as Anything – and arrive early to eat at Lentil as Anything) and they sell warm and spicy mulled wine with currents. Winner already.

In a post-apocalyptic dystopian future of forever night, five young men are alone, angry, bored and desperate. Light and hope are things of dreams, but they play a game about the end of the world, not knowing if there's a line between reality and myth.

With a bar and a huge space to use (the same space where a rat up-staged everyone at the 2012 Last Tuesday Society's Xmas special), the design team (Laura Harris: set and light, Lucy Welsh: projection, Zoe Rouse and Mia Zielinski: costume, Tom Pitts: sound and music) have created a space that begs to be entered, while creating a sense of nervous fear with dark corners and unseen rooms where wolves can hide.

Director Danny Delahunty lets the creative and beautiful language of Melbourne writer Giuliano Ferla's script lead the story and define a world that's so far from ours that the rhythm and meaning of English has evolved.  It's like a memory of language; it makes sense, but isn't quite right. And it's a world without women. A world without easy comfort and the eternal life of procreation has to be found elsewhere.

Actors Alex Duncan, Joseph Green, Kane Felsinger, Matt Hickey and Spencer Scholz relish the work and let us see beyond their facade of bravado and toughness. Nerves could be seen on the preview I saw, but they have nothing to be nervous about.

This is a powerful work that questions masculinity and the future of all of us in a time when playing the "gender card" brings calls of unfair.

This will go up on AussieTheatre next week.

MICF revisit review: Choir Girl

MICF 2013
Choir Girl
Attic Erratic
1 April 2013
8 and 15 April
comedyfestival.com.au

I saw Choir Girl for the third time on Monday. And I'd consider a fourth visit.

I adore this show and wanted to see how a season at the Adelaide Fringe and performing in a 250+ seat venue has changed it.

Here's my review from last year's Melbourne Fringe. It was my favourite show of that festival.

It's so lovely to be in the head of someone who is as unlikeable as choir girl Susan and the choir is one of the best used choruses since the ancient Greeks thought it a good idea to put society's voice in the arena.

I love seeing how shows develop. One of the advantages of theatre is that you can change the show and fix those things that don't become obvious until an audience points them out to you.

Sarah Collins's writing voice is still as unique and personal as ever (and one that makes me want to write more than reviews), and Sarah and director Celeste Cody have worked to tighten up the story and take away any doubt about what really happened that night at choir practice. The gorgeous choir is also bigger and grander, which lets Susan's story be as grand and important as it is in her head.

If you've ever been in a choir, this is your Comedy Festival show. If you've ever been kicked out of a choir, book to see it twice. I was sitting near women who were in pain because they didn't want to laugh out loud as they recognised the world.

If you haven't been in a choir, don't worry. Choir Girl reaches well beyond the choir world (and, yes, it IS like this) and tells a dark and sad story of loneliness and out-of-reach friendship that touches our hearts because it's told with the kind of love and empathy that never leaves Susan without hope.

Or go because Sarah Collins decided to write the exact kind of show she wanted to perform. And she nails it. I can't imagine anyone else performing one of her shows, but I'd like to see it happen, if only to allow her to see how her writing isn't just for her.

There are two more performances of Choir Girl on Monday 8 and Monday 15 April. As so many shows take Mondays off, it's a brilliant choice of night and you'll still be home in time for QandA.

If this week's performance was anything to go by, you're going to have to book. It's a big room, but was full to bursting on Monday.

There are plenty of terrific international and national performers in town, but don't miss Melbourne's home grown shows and please don't miss Choir Girl.

Review: Tell them it rained too hard

Tell them that it rained too hard
Attic Erratic
2 September 2011
Studio Theatre, Gasworks Arts Park
to 10 September
www.atticerratic.com

While Platform Youth are confronting the perception of teenage sluts in Tenderness, independent company Attic Erratic give a very different 20-something view of the slut-or-virgin paradigm in Tell them that it rained too hard.

Tom Pitts wrote the text and music for this piece. The highlight of the night is how beautifully the music works with the text and how Pitts and director Celeste Cody use the combination of text and music to create the mood and move the drama of story.

But the text suffers from overwriting and seems caught up with telling us the sexual issues we should be thinking about, rather than showing us the stories of these characters, who never seem free to really tell us what's going on in their hearts.

As each generation discovers sex, they tend to act like no one did it before them. (I know I did.) This work claims to boldly explore the "contentious" and "still divisive" issues of sexuality, promiscuity and monogamy. It begins with a dream about harlots and a lecture about the free love of the 60s and how it people can't have an uncomplicated shag. But it doesn't go on to address issues of sexuality, promiscuity or monogamy.

I left thinking that the politics and outlook underpinning this world are just so straight. Straight as in heterosexual, straight as in conservative and straight as in as vanilla as cheap, white home-brand ice cream.

The promiscuous chick dresses like a Grey St hooker and has sex with two (!) men, while her best friend risks her nice safe marriage by having a pash with an ex. This may be a typicailish 20ish story, but it would be a far better story if it wasn't claiming to be unflinching and bold. If you're going to look at the issues around being a slut (a word that is slowly being re-claimed as a positive and empowering word) and how you can enjoy a fuck because it's fun, please at least glance at promiscuity (that's a LOT of partners) and the alternatives to monogamy that many people joyfully embrace.

Tell them that it rained too hard didn't speak to me, but it's driven by a cast whose honesty and passion for the story reminded me that it is reflection of the their world and it will speak loudly and strongly to others.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com