Presented by: Holden Street Theatres Inc.
Reviewed: 28 May, 2026
This isn’t a play, it’s a juggernaut that takes a while to warm up but once it gets going, look out, it will run you over. Director Nick Fagan has brought together a cast of Adelaide actors that grab this relentless play by the scruff of its neck and shake it until the stars do threaten to fall down. A great start as the new resident director for Holden Street’s new season of plays with a resident theatre company.
It’s the wedding that Sylvia (Krystal Cave) has been waiting for so she can escape the life she has inherited and from the very moment the play starts we are transported into the home of a Northern English family who from the outset call a spade a spade and let you know this is going to be a wedding you wont forget. The play is set in the round and the opening scene, filled with fast-moving jokes and the usual family barbs that are aimed with love, sets the tone for Beth Steel’s brilliant look at a severely depressed community whose economy is destroyed with the men struggling for work after the mines have closed down. Leaving the women to keep the money coming in, food on the table and holding on fiercely to what they see as their stability.
The men are almost an afterthought in Steele’s world. She has created a world in which the men are almost invisible as they are manipulated and driven by the women they are married to or in a relationship with.
Brant Eustice’s John, lost in a hopeless fantasy, Steve Turner, bound by a grudge, Brendan Cooney, yearning for a time gone and Marek (Spencer Schultz), the groom. A successful Polish immigrant who is like sand in the shoes of the family. His vibrant and engaging performance is the leading edge for the calamity that threatens to destroy his integration. They may not be the drivers of the piece but the male ensemble is diverse, talented and very ugly (in a metaphorical sense).
It is the women who drive this piece. Martha Lott’s Hazel is a master class in virago. Edgy, loud and in your face. A fearless performance. This woman gets what she wants and no-one stands in her way. Michelle Nightingale’s Maggie, frailty with a core of steel, a beautifully crafted character that expanded her acting to new dimensions, and Krystal Cave’s Sylvia who has the journey from happiness to devastation on her wedding day to drive her performance, her versatility on show at all times. These three women are the core of the piece but wait – Aunty Carol (Jo St Clair) everybody’s favourite interfering aunty, constantly white-ants every carefully planned part of the day preferably with another drink until she creates a mayhem all of her own. Laura Lines’ (Leanne) performance is perfectly pitched. It’s the mischief that derails the celebration and an energetic and realistic performance from Millie Fagan (Sarah) a delight to watch and readily engaged in every aspect of her performance.
At the beginning of this review I referred to the play as a juggernaut, on reflection it would be better described as the Greek mythological creature the Hydra. Every time one of its heads got cut off it grew two more. Yep, this play is a hydra.
Costumes: great, lighting: clever, staging: innovative and eye-catching; and great design. How do you get a revolve into Holden Street? Go and see. You won’t be disappointed; Nick Fagan has carefully created a world for all these characters to come out to play – and break their toys!
Reviewed by Adrian Barnes
Venue: The Studio – Holden Street Theatres
Season: 28th May – 13th June 2026
Duration: Approx 140 minutes (including a 20minute intermission)
Tickets: $35.00 + $3.30 fee
Bookings: https://holdenstreettheatres.online.red61.com.au/event/890:31/
Content: Contains adult themes, mild coarse language, mild sexual references and the use of herbal cigarettes
