Tonight:
5°c
Evening Standard rating
A land Down Under
Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard 3 Aug 2006
For five years, this affable look at the lives and loves of an Aussie flat-share in Hammersmith has been selling record numbers of tickets and gathering a cult reputation on the Fringe. High time, then, for the West End to wake up and smell the Vegemite.
A large part of the work's admittedly cliché-ridden charm lies in the way writer Melanie Tait combines soapy episodes with Down Under's answer to Friends, except with more alcohol and less weight neurosis. Five Australians - one of whom sleeps on a surfboard - and a token Italian cohabit in student-style disarray, try to get laid and generally convey the sense that "real life" shimmers at one remove when you're in a foreign country. Yes, there are bad days, but nothing that a group hug on the sofa won't cure.
Director Bill Buckhurst wisely handles all this lightly, although he could usefully tone down the shriller declamatory moments. Tait gives us Dan (ex-Neighbours regular Blair McDonough) and Maddie (Sarah McGlade) for the will-they-won't-theys, although Sam (Andrew Robb) and Gemma (excellent Jessica Gerger) are the only characters that trouble the realm of the three-dimensional. Best enjoyed with Australians, flatmates and beer.
• Until 23 September (0870 899 3335).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (1)
Having lived in a grimy student flatshare my uni days, I felt strangely at home with this young Australian cast, telling their story of life in London. At times it feels more like a TV sitcom, maybe intentionally, to stop those with television-length attention spans from drifting off. Although a little too long, but with more energy than a kangaroo on steroids, this production pushes the laughs from start to finish.
- Bruce Duckworth, Ealing, London, 13/09/2007 12:10
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