This 50-minute, World Premiere Lockwood Production is at FringeWorld, in ‘The Flaming Locomotive’ theatrette, opposite the main entrance to the Museum in the James Street Mall.

Curtain up at 6.30 each evening until Saturday 20^th February.

The central feature of the set is a clever combination of a fridge, a bookcase and a laundrette washing machine, all ingeniously combined into a three-sided unit. Another most effective idea from Cherie Hewson, who designed the set and costumes.

The lighting and sound, along with the stage management, was by Andre Van Vulpen.

         ‘Text’     In the middle of the night, a woman (Talei Howell-Price) wakes up to find that her wonderful, loving husband of ten years (Benj D’Addario) is sitting in the kitchen drinking gin. He seems depressed, and has bottled up a Pandora’s Box of emotions that he is itching to unload onto his caring wife.

A very powerfully written piece, filled with genuine tension and written with a duologue that is completely believable. As the act progresses, the layers build on each other until the pressure is palpable. Superbly acted.

       ‘Williamsburg’     a young Australian girl (Emily Rose Brennan) has been on a working holiday in America, where she met a handsome young man (Christopher Sansoni). Unfortunately his attitude to life is a little immature, and when she asks him to come back to Australia with her, this ‘mummy’s boy’ seems less than agreeable.

Most people will regrettably have had a similar relationship, and so appreciate the heartache it causes. Again, beautifully scripted, handled and presented, with some delicately handled emotion that could have so easily been killed by overacting.

A brave move to try something so new for the first two plays and they worked wonderfully well.

      ‘Let’s Launder Together!’     When a young man (Barnaby Pollock) arrives at the laundrette for the hundredth time, he suddenly realises that on this visit – for the first time ever – the girl of his dreams (Salacia Briggs) is sitting waiting for her machine to stop. Should he approach her? Or will he be rejected?

Damon’s usual genre of work, with his precise quality and talented observation in every line. Barnaby captured the depraved young man, who despite his age was still in his pubescent stage. His cheeky grin, hilarious. Salacia played it cool, whilst being equally excited. This script was Lockwood as we know him.

Three plays which gave a good and varied mix. Top class.

A night of huge entertainment was guaranteed – they kept their word.

The Blue Room and New Ghosts have collaborated to give us this one-hour production, which can be seen for one week only, in the main theatre, at the Blue Room, James Street, Northbridge at 7.00 pm each night until this Saturday, 27^th June.

The set is a kitchen / lounge in a student style flat. It has a working sink unit, fridge, table, chairs and settee. In a first time ever (?) there are all four walls to the room set. It is viewed in the round. The walls are waist high with a metre break – like an all-around window – and then the walls (suspended) continue to the ceiling. This gives the drama the desired claustrophobic effect, and gives the audience members a true feeling of being a voyeuristic fly on the wall. Clever design from Patrick Howe, aided by stage manager Daley King.

        Three months ago, when young Charlie’s (Paul Grabovac) world came crashing down, he went to stay with some caring friends, Clara and Tommy.

        It is now 2.00 am, and in the dim light Charlie, who has fallen asleep on the sofa, awakes from a recurring nightmare screaming the name ‘Lily’. Bleary eyed, Clara (Mikala Westall) comes rushing through from her bedroom to console him, and drags him off to his bed.

        Next day, Clara and her partner, Tommy (James Marzec) try to cheer up Charlie, by offering to take him to the footie, but this is to no avail, his depression is not improving.

       A few days later, to Charlie’s horror, his fiancée Grace (Salacia Briggs) arrives at the flat unannounced, wondering why he had ‘disappeared off the Earth’ with quite a few problems requiring to be resolved. The story takes a dramatic twist.

       Who is Lily? Are Clara and Tommy the sincere caring friends Charlie thinks they are?

What an amazing cast director Joe Lui (assisted by playwright Lucy Clements) has gathered. The four actors gave an immense depth of feeling to the script, and held the suspense and mystery of the play right to the end. Their parts all called for a full range of emotions, from tenderness to outright anger, and were beautifully acted.

The soundscape of deep rumbling music and clever lighting (Joe Lui) emphasised the trauma and misery in Charlie’s head.

The rapidly twisting story threads may leave some of the audience reeling and wondering what is happening, but this is certainly an outstanding production that I would love to see again, but the rapidly filling houses may make this impossible.

Every now and again a play comes along that ticks all of the boxes, this is one of them. An intelligent piece of theatre, highly recommended.