Holy Hell

Anna Sokolova
Jul 24
2 min read

Old Fitz Theatre Sydney, 14-24 July 2026

The review

‘Holy Hell’ is a new Australian play by Bianca Watkins.

Three students in a University college, after a big night party, together or split into pairs, sorting out the consequences of their heavy fun night of drinking and an event where their friend got drugged. They are Max (Owen Hasluck), an opposite to a popular guy, a friend whom girls have without seeing him as a man; an ambitious, brave, adventurous, not much of a common sense Mish (Courtney Ally Miller) and her not-so-close, calm, cautious church girl friend Cat (Stephanie Somerville). While Cat is trying to live her day as normal, which means solo attending a service in a church, heartily assuring the chaplain (Riley Thomas), cute and funny with his anxiety, food habits and uncertainties, that live broadcasting attracted many more students, Mish is plotting something for herself. Courtney Ally Miller is stealing the show with energy and leashed but burning power and charisma, reminding Danielle Cormack in the recent "W".

This work is a wild mix of thoughts about religion and rejection of it by naturally messy young people who just left home to live in the uni and be by themselves, along with their friendship and relationships. That, I believe, is a proper mix of hell and holy - the core of the play.

Set simply in a room which is a chapel with a small altar, or converted into a dormitory, transforming the altar into a drawer and banks into a bed.

This is lighting, varying between deep red and yellowish tones, along with a soundscape composed of opposites like lyrical and rave songs, and greatly performed, synchronised nightclub-style movement sequences that hold the show together.

This play is a gentle slam of situations the three young people are putting themselves in. It is nearly a comedy of errors with serious and hilarious consequences. Though this work didn't feel like a whole piece, more like a try-run on a stage, it certainly presented life in a Catholic study environment under a clever, unexpected angle. It has shaken long-solidified presumptions (especially of those who never studied in a Catholic uni), presented an unobstructed view, a rare thing altogether.

For a story behind the writing, read a great interview on Broadway World.