Offering an insight into the struggle between choosing profitable classics over unprofitable but progressive theatre works, Wood's script cleverly arranges several discordant voices into a singular chorus of questions and concerns.

If the old guard all the profits then how do the new, avant-garde, get their fair share of them?

On opening night the most convincing of these voices were told by Charles (Malcolm Young) and Carol (Katy Carruthers). Young captures the solitary, imperious Charles brilliantly and by the end moulds him into someone else entirely - an empathetic comrade who has somehow been strengthened by embracing his vulnerability.

Carruthers embodies the tizzy sincerity of Carol with her trademark brand of slapdash naturalism. Does Carruthers need to spend more time on her lines? Sometimes. Can she thread the needle of a character with a blindfold on underwater? Every time. This is an actor who can turn the partition of an Oreo into one of the most memorable scenes in the play. Her Carol is frustrated and then hopeful, resentful and then contrite. And that's before she's even considered the other half of the biscuit.

Both Tom (James Patton) and Ash (Emily Williams) treated the audience to poignant moments. Each delivered stirring monologues towards the end of the play. But the overall crowd favourite was undoubtedly Dawn (Vanessa MacArthur). She needn't have pulled a rabbit out of her hat. She's less conventional than that. Better to just down a vodka and pack a carrot for the rabbit instead.

Dithering and benign but cheeky and disarming, MacArthur was hilarious and utterly convincing.

Aside from the variously strong performances underpinning this production, there were some elements that subtracted from the impact of the whole. The pace and energy of several scenes could have been significantly lifted. At times it was obvious that lines had been lost, which disrupted the rhythm of some scenes.

The character of Walter (Peter Eyre), the staunch and unforgiving patriarch, felt something like a redundant stereotype. Do the agendas of white bigots still overshadow amateur playhouses? Maybe I'm more naive than Tom.

But when Walter is dismissive of how the efforts of Carol could benefit the company, or complement the vision of the even lefter-of-centre Jax (Connie Voisey-Barlin), it reminds us all of an uncomfortable truth. The artistic progression of any sized theatre, however contemporary in name, will only suffer if some ideas, regardless of their merit, are destined to be preferenced above others.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: