Eden

Anna Sokolova
Apr 14
2 min read

Updated: Apr 15

SIren Theatre company at Qtopia 7-18 April 2026, Sydney

Written and directed by Kate Gaul @kategaul.fieldnotes this year, a beautiful new, truly Australian play.

The review

A story told here, and now, in the present sense, done beautifully and tenderly, in half-tones, layered with feelings and hunches, filling the heart with something like old memories, when all vanished, only deeply hidden sweet sadness is left.

Two performers on the stage, Karrine Kanaan and Lara Lightfoot are two young girls in a very Australian country town. A comment about someone's hair “...a gene pool, so common here”, marks how small it is.

The story is woven from their conversations and observations (“smells with something else, trying to break through the skin”), descriptions of what they see. And most significantly, what they sense in each other and their mums, street gang, a pizza shop owner who knows each and all, a bus driver, and every bit of the place: the heat of a disco or philosophical lyrism of a big-crossing petrol station; and the rippling heart bounding all - the river.

The small fragments, accompanied by a flowing musical score, like dry leaves graciously dancing in the wind, arrange themselves into the flow, shaping the core feeling. The one that always has another layer, a premonition of “something which does not have a name yet”. Something which slowly yet unmistakably erects itself. It is the certainty that staying in this world, surrounded by a strong, opinionated, but unconcerned river, which is just a curious observer even for death, means dissipation. Leaving “early, before the world has opinions”, for good, not betraying, taking a piece of what is always home for them, means - and surely will reward them with something much, much more.

By entering The Substation, the cubic space looks nearly bare. And then two actresses create images of such a palpable density that by the time the show is complete, it is absolutely certain that one can see the town and its people, the river, paddocks, streets, and the endless road out, just right there.