New Australian play puts family values under the microscope 

The Department of Family Values is a sharply observed, cleverly written new play by author, Jon Glass. It’s a one-act, 90-minute drama that manages to create fully-fleshed characters, complex relationships, and a narrative arc that rises to a peak, then descends with dramaturgical precision. 

Rebecca (Alexandra O’Brien) is a corporate lawyer whose work demands all her time and attention, much to the chagrin of her stay-at-home writer husband, Oliver (Barret Griffin) and petulent young-adult daughter, Chloe (Rhiannon Jean). 

Rebecca’s best friend, Anne (Sally Williams) is currently receiving treatment for cancer while also awaiting the outcome of a dispute she has with a former employer. Rebecca had been acting as Anne’s lawyer but has just left her firm to take up a better position with the newly established Department of Family Value; a decision that leaves Anne feeling betrayed. 

Oliver, meanwhile, has gone AWOL; he is not answering calls and the only possible explanation for his absence is a publisher’s letter rejecting Oliver’s latest novel. The letter has been conspicuously left on a table. 

Chloe is having her own dramas. She has received a part scholarship to Oxford University but has to come up with $30,000 in tuition fees, $10k of which needs to be paid immediately. She and her mother, Rebecca, have long had a tense relationship, intensified now because Rebecca does not want Chloe to go to England and she is withholding any payment.  

Chloe’s new boyfriend, Josh (Angus Farrand), is an outsider in terms of social status, education, and general perspective on life. He wants to help Chloe out with the tuition fee, but his means are limited, as is his mental acuity. 

Mark (Garreth Cruikshank) is Anne’s husband and a kind of mediating figure throughout. He acts as a conduit between feuding characters, though he himself frequently retreats to attend to business calls.  

This is a well constructed plot that slowly builds to a crescendo without needing to pull in over-the-top crises or deus-ex-machina devices. 

It is also very funny. There are genuine laugh-out-loud moments. 

Overall, a thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre, worth catching when it plays again.