A Gum Tree on Summer Road

Anna Sokolova

4 days ago

3 min read

Presented by @ratandroachproductions

Sydney Fringe 2026

15-19 September qtopia_sydney

The review

Lily Cox @lily_melinda_ is a slender young woman who wrote and directed a play assembling four male performers intimately bound by a painful, alarming, loud call from men.

Made as a cascade of real stories told by boys, teenagers, and young men from somewhere in the rural space, this work doesn't give actors time to dig into each character but demands a masterful, precise performance of quick snapshots. Thin, flexible Jake Davies (@jakelovescakesss) in oversized jeans and a sweater with big holes shapes his characters as a knot of nerves. Their facial expressions and gestures are rich; the anxiety, anger, or excitement of the characters is palpable. Evan Graham (@evanalexanderg), a young farmer with a face reminding young Jean Marais, often covered by a cap, is content, strong, quiet - a man who is standing strong, but if he fails, fails loudly. Marley Dunn (@marley.dunn) is an open-hearted boy. Richard Lavroff (@rich_lavr), in an old-style rugby league uniform, plays their parts without rush, giving each a recognizable move, look, or tone. @rich_lavr prevails in dainty playing several female characters, excellently impersonating them by using just little touches, caring women who are heavily corrupted by the environment they have to exist in.

Set up on a small bare stage with only a twisted, huge tree stump, which becomes a bench, a fire pit, an edge of a cliff, this Fringe show is well framed by a soundscape made of music, kettle whistles, tree branches crackling in the fire, and lighting, shaping and separating fast-paced scenes.

It is about the fatal consequences of stigma that men cannot show any sort of weakness.

Bitterness, insecurity, desperation of breakups, lost friendships, rejection, fear of not fitting in, being ignored by drunken parents (no fault there; each generation is a product of a previous one), or losing loved ones, crisis of losing everything in a drought ought to be kept deeply within. Loneliness is in there calling for its prey, and it seems it is plenty of it. “The way to deal with the weight of my shoulders is to kill myself” is a desperate, repeating refrain for a chain of men’s destinies when something is brewing inside, but comes out in scarce words or not at all. It is about the value of human connection and its delicacy. One person is enough to save another; one rejection is enough to send one over the line.

It is dark and alarming, but made flowy and easy to watch (there is only one false-ending bit that feels a bit foreign), bringing up a conversation about everyday tragedies which - sadly - feel very much avoidable. This show is not made to squeeze tears; it is not sentimental. It is awakening deep compassion and makes one see that it must not be that difficult to make a change - the stigma of silence shall be broken.

Though - how many of us are conditioned to move along solo, not daring to ask - let alone for help - just for a genuine conversation? This play clearly states that the chance is there, and we'd better follow.