TOY BOX

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy families is unhappy in its own way. In writer-director Paul Gilchrist’s world, families whose children are all grown up lie somewhere between the two: sometimes miserable, often funny and utterly relatable.

Gilchrist’s Toy Box, the latest offering from independent theatre company subtlenuance, is a study in family friction, perfectly suited to the cosy TAP Gallery performance space and the slice of suburban domesticity designer Brad Loxley has created within it.

Judith and Peter have three adult children who, we sense, don’t get together much beyond the obligatory Christmas-and-birthdays. But now with Mum sick and Dad suffering from dementia, the kids need to figure out a plan. Cue guilt, resentment and a whole lot of 20-something angst.

Sylvia Keays shines as the youngest daughter, lumped with the responsibility of caring for parents with whom she shares an uneasy relationship, and scenes involving all three siblings beautifully capture the misgivings many of us have felt at one time or another about family. But it is almost as if Gilchrist didn’t trust that this would satisfy audiences: there are a few table-thumping moments, and some scenes jump from tears to hugs rather more quickly than feels natural. More stage time for the parents, played by Jennie Dibley and Dave Kirkham, would have been welcome.

But it’s a worthy topic, and all in all, Gilchrist makes a good stab at it. Though Toy Box veers occasionally into the overwrought, it remains a darkly funny and engaging meditation on a subject that, sooner or later, many of us will have to confront ourselves with.

Until April 17, TAP Gallery, 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst, $12-25, 0466 843 351, subtlenuance.com