This play, written by Russian ex-pat Ivan Vyrypaev in 2011 has both contemporary and age-old import. The format is a sustained and shared narrative by all six performers, informing the audience of various aspects and chapters in the long lives and relationships of two octogenarian couples, Denny and Sandra, and Albert and Margaret.

It took the form of a relay of monologues, which could, in the wrong context, have failed badly. That it didn’t is a tribute to the director Liliana Ciobanu and her fellow cast members. They exuded sincerity and purpose. Each narrator – Olga Vlasova, Liliana Ciobanu, Oleksandr Pavlenko, Larissa Chirkova, Andrei Ciobanu and Larisa Alvino – had his or her own style and volume, but throughout, the audience was spellbound, only occasionally breaking our silence to chuckle at an ironically amusing line attributed to one of the characters, usually Margaret. All narrators delivered their lines standing at one of the two microphones downstage left and right. It was a convention the audience quickly accepted after the first one or two deliveries, and was well coordinated all through the narratives. The ensemble work was smooth and highly effective.

I was one member of the audience who depended entirely on the surtitles to understand the narrative, which was by no means lightweight. The concepts were teased out, often at length, and always in depth. The narrators informed us of the complexities of the lives of the four characters, in a series of segments. We were asked to contemplate, in a number of ways, the meaning of true love, the effects of aging, the purpose of truth, and the contrast between appearance and reality. It was a cerebral exploration.

All this was set on a bare black stage, with the cast dressed in black and with an extreme minimalist set of small cubes – rearranged now and then – and some red balloons. It needed no more.

This struck me as being a very European production and one which challenged an Adelaide audience’s expectation of a night at the theatre. It is wonderful that our theatre community now has such a serious and competent new theatre company. They are a worthy and welcome addition, and deserve our continued support and attention.

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