This play, written by Simon Thomson, is a world premiere production. The play was shortlisted for the 2020 Silver Gull Play Award.

A small group of characters traverse a park, accosted by both the fantastical and the earthly. What terrors are brutally real, and what are imagined? And how do they deal with the consequences of their journeys as narrative threads reveal themselves to be increasingly intertwined?

In our collective psyches, parks are places of fun and relaxation during the day but take on darker, more threatening aspects at night. The benign becomes sinister as the sun goes down.

There’s a lesbian couple who aren’t getting on, arguing one a park bench . A couple are going through a park when he realises that he doesn’t have his wallet and  rushes back to the restaurant. A young man is accosted by a vagrant who tries to sell him a shirt.

Thomson’s one act play builds the atmosphere and the drama though I felt that the narrative threads and the connections between the characters could have been made clearer. 

The cast performed strongly and production values were good

CREATIVE TEAM
Director Jess Davis
Set & Vision Designer Verica Nikolic
Lighting Designer Mehran Mortezaei
Sound Designer Samantha Cheng
Set Construction Tom Bannerman
Stage Manager Marica Fumanti 

CAST
Michela Carattini, Ben Dewstow, Shanti Goupil-Gilderson,
Priyanka Karunanithi, Mym Kwa, Simon Lee, Tahlia Merlino,
Orlando Norman, Madeleine Osborne

THE PARK is playing the New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown until Saturday 22nd January, 2022. Performance times are 7.30pm. Ticket prices are $25 and $20 concession.