THEATRE: THE SWEETEST THING
There are some things we can all relate to. Love definitely comes to mind. Family is probably up there. Nostalgia would be too. Chaos theory? Maybe not. So when I read about a new play at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre that combines all those topics in one, my ears pricked up. The Sweetest Thing is a new play written by Verity Laughton and directed by Sarah Goodes. It is her fifth play in the intimate Downstairs Theatre, and her passion for the space is clear.
According to Goodes the size and shape of the theatre, “Lends itself to intimacy and simplicity, which is really lovely. Less is more down there, which naturally makes you strip away the excess, in order to fit.”
Within this intimate space, The Sweetest Thing sets out to explore an atmospheric story of love and life. The classic love story is seen through the lens of a fragmented, grieving family, tinged with childhood memories and thoughts of days gone by.
After the sudden death of her father, the story’s central character Sarah flees to New Zealand leaving the grief-stricken remains of her family behind in Australia. Teetering out of balance she finds herself falling in love and lust with Jimmy, a relationship that changes everything, forever.
Anything that aims to discuss our desire to control things in life, and how essentially out of control of them all we really are, is sure to resonate with a great number of control freaks (basically every one of us). We all have an idea of the outcome, and are outraged when it doesn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. So could The Sweetest Thing be collective therapy perhaps?
Oct 28-Nov 21, Belvoir St Downstairs, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills, $24-32, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au
