THE VOICES PROJECT 2012: THE ONE SURE THING

There are, as they say, two sure things in life: death and taxes.

Part of me is disappointed that the Australian Theatre for Young people did not, in its new production, present a series of monologues about teenagers grappling with taxation.

What they have given us instead in The One Sure Thing is an exploration of what death means for people who are coming to it for the first time. These are budding actors, some as young as 16, working with material penned by writers as young as 18. As you might expect, there are a handful of false starts: the grieving flit too quickly from chatter to howls of guilt, or their reminisces of the dead try too hard.

But there is ample compensation for the moments that misfire. Lucy Coleman’s eight-year-old social climber is perfection, all bated breath and childish self-importance in the face of desperate tragedy. Emma Campbell’s account of the cruel and unusual disease that is slowly killing her schoolgirl character is, by turns, crushing and laugh-out-loud funny.

And canny direction from Tanya Goldberg transforms some pieces from soliloquy to a drama that consumes the stage – and the audience.

A touching production that reminds us what is at stake for us all.

Until Feb 18, atyp Studio 1, The Wharf, Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $15-25, 9270 2400, atyp.com.au