BORN ON A THURSDAY written by Jack Kearney and directed by Lucy Clements had its world premiere this week at the Old Fitz Theatre in Woolloomooloo.
This new play is an intimate portrayal of a family in crisis beautifully enacted by an accomplished cast and sensitive attention to many complex and difficult issues.
This story is told over four seasons and has at its core the issue of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) a disease related to head trauma. After a catastrophic accident in a sports game this issue was deftly handled and reflected the emerging consequences for brain injury that has been identified as a major concern for contact sports like rugby league.
This story of an eclectic family in trauma was illuminated by the performances of the five main characters and embedded in the set design. The writer Jack Kearney has carefully crafted characters that make you feel like you have an intimate understanding of each of the people that live in the home of this play.
Sharon Millerchip as Ingrid the mother is the stalwart of this production and its depth of humanity. James Lugton as neighbour and close friend Howard is a sensitive portrayal of what kindness and care can mean. As Howard says “We’re not the bad things that happen to us. We are – in spite of those things. And sometimes because of them.”
Owen Hasluck as Isaac creates an empathetic and compassionate portrayal as the survivor of a brain injury. Sofia Nolan as April his sister opens wide the complexity of mother daughter relationships and the struggle of the journey into adulthood. Deborah Galanos as Estelle is the funny, exuberant friend who provides the light relief to the complex issues addressed in this production.
Most significantly this production is well serviced by the set design by Soham Apte which works beautifully for creating the interior view of this families world.
The well-proportioned set works well in the intimacy of the Old Fitz Theatre and provides the intimacy and domestication of ordinary daily life with its mundaneness and harsh reality.
With a dining area, fully functional kitchen and backyard courtyard view there are ample opportunities for the creation of the interior view of these characters world. The audience have an intimate front row seat of the daily happenings of these very authentic and real people.
As Jack Kearney the playwright says, ‘If this play is trying to say anything, it’s that ordinary life carries extraordinary weight. Trauma doesn’t eclipse the mundane; it lives beside it.’ ‘And the so-called regular Australian life is worthy of deep poetic attention.’
This production of Jack Kearney’s BORN ON A THURSDAY is playing at the Old Fitz Theatre until 14th December 2025.
Production photography by Phil Erbacher
