Written by Andrew Bovell
Directed by Chris Baldock
Mockingbird Theatre Company
Belconnen Arts Centre to 17 May
Reviewed by Len Power 8 May 2025
In Alice Springs 2039, a fish falls from the sky. What follows is a fascinating puzzle involving two families over four generations from 1959 in London to Australia eighty years later. This epic play explores family relationships across the generations. Pain, secrets, love, unanswered questions, destruction, longing and forgiveness come together to produce an extraordinary picture of hope and humanity.
Andrew Bovell’s play, first performed in 2008, is beautifully written and compelling in its construction. It has a lot to say about people and families and how unresolved issues can pass down the generations. The constant rain throughout the years and fish falling from the sky gives it a troubling feeling of impending apocalypse.
The audience is drawn deeply into the action as it unfolds. At first puzzling, the play stealthily takes its time to fully enlighten us. There is no interval in this almost two hour play, but the time goes very quickly as the pieces of the puzzle within are cleverly locked into place.
As the play jumps forward and back in time, the nine actors, Liz St Clair Long, Ruth Hudson, Bruce Hardie, Jess Beange, Jayde Dowhy, Leonidas Katsanis, Zac Bridgman, Dyllan Ormazabal and Chris Baldock play with confidence and skill, bringing these characters vividly to life and making them people we can understand and empathize with.
Director, Chris Baldock’s simple set design of suspended umbrellas, the constant sound of rain and the atmospheric lighting add considerably to the sense of time and place.
This is a fine, absorbing play from one of Australia’s great playwrights. Chris Baldock’s stylish direction in the round is masterly. His attention to detail, keeping the action clear and well-paced, as well as obtaining very real characterisations from his cast, make this another memorable and enjoyable production from the Mockingbird Theatre Company.
Photos by Chris Baldock
Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.
