The New Year’s Eve getaway at Hepburn for couple Hugh (Marcus McKenzie) and Will (Wil King) exposes tensions and frustrations compounded by illness and fundamental character flaws.
The occasion is further complicated by the three female friends who regularly share the yearly getaway with them each of whom have their own preoccupations; Alex (Belinda McClory), a TV host; Jo (Maria Theodorakis), a university lecturer; and Sharleen (Michelle Perera), a recently divorced mother.
To begin, Matilda Woodroofe’s set and costumes establish the truth behind the façade of these character’s lives.
A large sliding door is the central feature allowing access to the sights beyond but the backdrop is a picture.
The set panels are also evident beyond the well laid out performance space.
The outfits, and even Alex’s hairpiece, suggest appearance prevents these characters from appreciating the actuality that simmers below the surface.
The wit and invective in Ash Flanders’s script is also clever and entertaining but as verbal barbs are exchanged, we wonder if any resolution is possible.
Hugh’s cancer diagnosis leaves him narcissistically deflecting Will’s attempts to help but the psychology of this is never fully explored or accounted for.
And the women’s concerns highlight their own obsessions which are all viable loci for discussion – the male ego, educational mothering and divorce – but which are not germane to what could be the collapse of Hugh and Will’s relationship.
The naturalism of Matthew Lutton’s direction is best highlighted in the pace of the dialogue and its overlapping nature.
Even the offstage dialogue echoes the carry-on of real life when people arrive. And the drama technique of howling is comically believable hinting at a send up of workshops all the cast could well have encountered.
The cast delight in their roles inhabiting character and finding not just the comedy but an underlying emotional core but much of what plays out serves as scene setting.
There is a truth behind what these characters experience – especially when it comes to caring for a dying partner.
But Flanders has tended to deflect the focus. We are left with the feeling that the drama of their lives will be repeated come next New Years. This is living – or is it?
Performance Details: Until July 30
Venue: Malthouse Theatre
Booking: www.malthousetheatre.com.au

• Review by David McLean

Pictured: Maria Theodorakis (Jo), Belinda McClory (Alex), Marcus McKenzie (Hugh) and Wil King i(Will) in This is Living.
Photo: Pia Johnson