Melbourne

When a dramatically-drawn stage, set impressively as a stark deck of a cruise ship is cast in blue lighting, with unnerving music pounding from the speakers, I know I have arrived immediately in an undercurrent of something I can’t quite put my finger on. A backward feeling descending on my conscience; that once this cruise ship sets sail, there is nowhere I can escape from.

For this feeling of unbreathable submersion is Patricia Cornelius’ brilliant reimagined work, Savages, a play about four men immersed in tight mate-ship, climbing aboard a cruise and leaving their worries behind – heading off on ‘a holiday of a lifetime’, not yet knowing how their yearning for liberation will slowly spill out of control and descend into a night of chaos.

Thirteen years after this play originally took the stage, the decision to cast this show with women and non-binary people takes this piece to a whole other level, particularly where we currently sit with toxic masculinity and misogyny. How, in 2026, we still hear of men, particularly those ranking in high positions, still feeling entitled to disrespect women. How women still have to be guarded, even on cruise ships. Where there may lie a toxic breeding ground of expectation, ire, and unfathomable disrespect when it comes to our gender.

To examine the seemingly complex wiring of savage behaviour in 2026, Cornelius and the show’s director, Kitan Petkovski, thought to cast four incredibly agile women and non-binary actors, who symbolically leave their identities behind at the dock. Who immediately transform into four male characters with great humour, precise physicalities, and emotional complexities; exposing how underneath bravado and immoral behaviour, may lie simmering undercurrents of sadness and depression. Keen to liberate themselves from these emotional waves, these men continue to fight their way through: choosing pure self-satisfaction over what is morally right.

The cast all do a brilliant job of taking on their individual roles. Nicci Wilks is the humorous pick of choice, playing Runt with great comedic timing, delivering the performance of an Aussie bloke with a growl and groan, giving as much as he gets.

But AYA, delivers the level of acting not seen in years. Conveying the despicable character such as Rabbit is no easy feat, and AYA takes it to an expansive level – blending low-brow waywardness with complex pathos and vulnerability. For AYA is the epitome of what I would define as a gifted vessel, for any trued-and-true storyteller.

The set and lighting, both designed by Bianca Pardo and Harrie Hogan respectively, is novel and innovative. Minimal, clean, and with very few props, this set is paired beautifully with the tones of light weaving in and out through the show – symbolising a ‘sea of emotions’, setting the tone of each character’s mood— spotlighting the colour blue for sadness and depressive thoughts; red for anger and aggression; and even the colour pink, celebrating women.

The key to great writing, especially in the case of Patricia Cornelius, is in the simplicity of her language, how so few words can mean so much. How, in much of the play, it sounded sung, like poetry. A call to arms perhaps, in light of what women are still struggling with.

Thankfully, by its rousing end, we see beams of pink light shining through the cracks of toxic culture, a stark vision of hope – in highlighting the vulnerabilities all genders share. That sometimes they can rule our lives in the most harmful of ways. That only time will tell – when old ideas of women will disappear and re-emerge triumphantly. Where entitled misogyny will be a thing of the past.

To book tickets to Savages, please visit https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2026/savages.

Photographer: Pia Johnson

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