‘Sunset Strip’ – drama on a dry lake

Suzie Miller is a prolific and very successful Australian playwright and screenwriter. Sunset Strip was written in 2016, and is the sixth of 15 plays that have been produced to date, all to critical acclaim. The New Theatre’s current production of Sunset Strip exemplifies what makes Miller’s work perennially popular. 

The play is set on a rural property in the small town of the rather ironically named Sunset Strip. It used to be idyllic, but the large lake that was once its epicentre and lifeblood has completely dried up. The rural property is the childhood home of sisters, Phoebe (Molly Haddon) and Caroline (Erica Nelson). 

Phoebe still lives in the family home with their father, Ray (Vincent Melton) whose mental acuity ebbs and flows as he slowly succumbs to dementia. Phoebe has learned to deal with Ray’s erratic personality changes, and she role plays where needed. 

Meanwhile, Phoebe has had to face down her own demons, including a drug addiction that caused her to lose her two children to the authorities. At the moment, however, she is ecstatic; she is about to marry Teddy (Shane Davidson), a local man whom Phoebe and her sister have known since childhood. She appears to have her life together now and is anticipating the return of her children.

Caroline, a lawyer, long ago left for the big city but has returned to Sunset Strip to be an advocate for her sister. Caroline has just completed chemotherapy after losing a breast to cancer. She also ended a long term relationship with a partner whom she felt was not up to the challenge of her illness. 

The girls’ mother died when they were both still young, and that seems to have impacted them both strongly but differently. 

Miller allows the narrative to unfold through drip-fed revelations, each new drama thickening the tapestry. This is effective for building-out the story, although there are arguably one or two too many dramatic twists and it verges on melodrama. 

In her later works, Miller resorts less to off-the-shelf drama and focuses more on character development and theme exploration. That said, Sunset Strip is still a very powerful, well structured play with a lot of undercurrent. 

Director and designer, Annette van Roden, has created a smart set, embracing the limitations of the New Theatre stage. She brings her audience into the rustic home of Ray, Caroline and Phoebe, making it intimate without being suffocating. At the same time, at the other end of the stage, Roden takes us outside, to the shore of the dried up lake where a rowboat lays stranded and two deck chairs and a beach umbrella sit almost cynically. 

There is some heavy subject matter in this play and it probably warrants a trigger warning, however, it is also humorous and heart-warming at times. It ends on a kind of question mark which means the story continues in your head or in the after show discussions — always a good thing for any piece of art. 

Until August 3

New Theatre, 542 King St, Newtown

newtheatre.org.au/sunset-strip/