For Hilt, a play about the toll urban living can take on individuals and relationships, there could be no better venue than the Old 505 Theatre. A converted warehouse space in Surry Hills, which provides a particularly intimate experience for both performers and audience.
“I knew I wanted to do a show at 505,” says director Dominic Mercer, and when the opportunity arose, “this one came straight to mind.”
The play, in Mercer’s words, asks its audience to “reflect on how easy it is to disconnect when we’re stacked on top of one another,” by placing them in such close quarters. They are simultaneously connected to and disconnected from the actors performing around them – a paradoxical experience all too familiar for the average Sydney-sider.
This reboot of Jane Brodie’s play, written 19 years ago and performed previously in both Australia and the UK, comes at a particularly timely moment for Mercer. The subject matter has, in his eyes, “only become more of an issue” in recent years, as urban rental and property prices continue to skyrocket, lending a sense of stall to the lives of young city-dwellers, romantically, professionally and personally.
A must-see for all city-dwellers whose Facebook relationship status reads: “It’s Complicated.” (SW)
March 12-30, Old 505 Theatre, Suite 505, 342 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, $18-28, trybooking.com
BY SIRI WILLIAMS
