There’s something special about the kind of theatre where the characters invite the audience into their worlds…where they share some of their life experiences which have gone some way in to shaping the kind of people that they are today. Particularly when it comes together as well, and as skilfully,  as it does with DEAD CENTRE/SEA WALL, companion monologue pieces written by two talented Australian playwrights.

Director Julian Meyrick has chosen a fitting way to present these two works. The approach is informal. There is no set to speak of. Both actors stay close to the centre of the tiny stage and spend time making eye contact with each of the theatregoers. They give assured performances in this campfire like style of presentation.

First, in DEAD CENTRE, we get to meet Helen, played by Rosie Lockhart. A middle class English lady in her thirties, she tells us how she had been having a very hard time of it and one day she decided she just needed to get away from it all and booked a solo holiday to Australia. ‘Telling my husband was tricky, but I managed to’.

Her experiences down-under are a mixed bag, including her arrival in Frankston, Victoria…’it was just like a Neighbours episode’…Helen books a trip to the Alice and has a bit of a meltdown when she finds out that the people she is travelling with are all Asian, speaking Mandarin, and kind of laughing at  her awkwardness in the situation.

Rosie Lockhart exits the stage, stage left, and Ben Pendergast joins us playing an Irish gentleman, Alex, in Simon Stephens companion piece, SEA WALL.

We soon work out that family is the big thing in his life. His wife and his father-in-law Arthur, who he is especially drawn to. Alex and Arthur enjoy arguing over religion and the very existence of God…Sometimes the couple spend time with Arthur in his house in the south of France…

I won’t tell you any more of Alex’s stories. It would spoil the experience of the show. What I will say is that Helen and Alex’s stories meet unexpectedly and with great poignancy at the end.

This is a fine production. Julian Meyrick’s direction is tightly focused, and the performances are great. Also playing starring roles are the very effective lighting and audio visual designs.  The waterscapes, complemented by nature sounds, projected onto the back wall, add to the play’s hubris.

A co-production by Red Stitch Actors Theatre and Red Line Productions, DEAD CENTRE/SEA WALL is playing the Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, corner Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo until Saturday 14th November. Performance times are Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm and Sundays at 5pm. Prices $35 Adult, $30 Concession, $25 cheap Tuesdays. www.oldfitztheatre.com/dead-centre-sea-wall