David Koumans’s production, for the Woof/meow theatre company, of Melbourne playwright Daniel Hayward’s promising first play ‘Parkie’ is the inner city fringe theatre, the Tap Gallery’s final play of the year.

Hayward’s play is an original, engrossing work that takes us into a whole other world. This is the world of life in a caravan park named Clybucca, a quiet, run-down caravan park located on the pacific highway in northern New South Wales.

Popular folklore says that there are only three kinds of people who live in caravan parks. They are the Tuckers, the people who only stop in for a day or two, the Mosies who just mosie about, and are usually running away from something or someone, and the rest are the Parkies, who live there, and call the park their home.

Hayward sets up a whole drama that sweeps Clybucca. Teenager Brenda, the daughter of the park owner, and Adam are Parkies and best friends who lead relatively uneventful lives. Their characters complement each other; Brenda is a sparky, vivacious character whereas Adam is more quiet and contemplative. On to the scene comes Jake, a handsome, confident young guy who is on way through after completing a stint of army service. Jake has raging affairs with both of them and then absconds.

As the drama unfolds, ‘Parkie’ reveals itself to be a play about the challenge of self acceptance. It is fair to say that we all discover easy and difficult aspects about ourselves. Whereas most people can cope with this ‘process’, there are some who won’t accept the more challenging parts of themselves, and aren’t able to move on. ‘Parkie’ is a portrait of one such man.

David Koumans’s production serves Hayward’s play well, authentically recreating the Clybucca world with simple and effective staging. He wins good performances from his cast who present four distinct, credible characters each going through their own journey. Matt Hopkins gives the stand-out performance in the pick of the roles as the volatile, tormented Jake, Nathaniel Scotcher plays the down to earth Adam, Amy Correia is the bright, perky Brenda, and Mat Lynch is the troubled Matt, just out of prison.

Daniel Hayward’s ‘Parkie’ plays the Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst until December 20.