The Almighty Sometimes asks a question that sits uneasily at the heart of family life: when does care become control?
Written by Kendall Feaver and presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company, the play enters the complicated emotional terrain between mental health, medication, autonomy and parental love. At its centre is Anna, an 18-year-old beginning to ask who she might be beyond the prescriptions and diagnoses that have shaped much of her life. For her mother Renee, that search for independence is inseparable from fear, memory and the instinct to protect.
It is a powerful premise, and one the production handles with intelligence and sensitivity. The Almighty Sometimes is not a simple argument for one side over another. Anna’s desire for agency is deeply understandable. Renee’s fear is also deeply human. The play’s strength lies in its refusal to make either woman easy to judge.
Director Emily McLean gives the story space to breathe. The production allows the audience to sit inside the tension rather than being pushed toward an obvious conclusion. This is not merely a play about mental illness, nor merely a mother-daughter drama. It is about the difficult place where love, risk, responsibility and control overlap.
‘Ana Ika brings urgency and volatility to Anna, capturing the restlessness of a young woman desperate to define herself on her own terms. It is a demanding role, full of emotional turns, humour, anger and vulnerability.
Alison van Reeken is excellent as Renee, presenting a mother whose love has been shaped by years of vigilance. There is no easy sentimentality in the performance. Renee’s care is practical, anxious, frightened and forceful; the performance makes clear how easily love can become tangled with fear.
Amy Mathews brings authority and composure to Vivienne, while Harry Gilchrist is very effective as Oliver. His performance adds warmth, humour and emotional contrast, giving the production some of its most natural and engaging moments.
The creative elements give the production a distinct visual identity. Fiona Bruce’s set and costume design makes strong use of a cool, blue-toned world; a choice the program links to ideas of protection, intensity and emotional excess. Karen Cook’s lighting supports the production’s movement between domestic realism and more heightened emotional moments.
The Almighty Sometimes is not light entertainment, but it is compelling theatre. It asks difficult questions without flattening them into easy answers. How much risk should a person be allowed to take in pursuit of independence? How far can love go before it becomes possession? What happens when the person you are trying to protect also needs freedom from you? These are not comfortable questions, but the play explores them with intelligence and sensitivity, providing much food for thought and is carried by a strong ensemble.
The Almighty Sometimes is a mature and absorbing production from Black Swan State Theatre Company; a thoughtful drama that leaves you pondering the difficult questions it asks about love, risk, responsibility and control.
To book tickets to The Almighty Sometimes, please visit https://blackswantheatre.com.au/season-2026/the-almighty-sometimes.
Photographer: Daniel J Grant
