First cab off the rank for this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival.
Sorry I’m Late
Productions credits:
Writer, Producer, Cast (Dorothy) – Izzy Azzopardi
Producer, Cast (Mackenzie) – Jessica Garnett
Director – Rebecca McNamee
Production Designer – Daisy Hughes
Lighting Designer – Lila Browning
Sound Designer – Tait Gibbons
Rehearsal Assistant – Lara Koscis
It was very heartwarming to see to full audience of mainly family, friends and loved ones of the cast and crew for their opening night. I’m sure the lead up to the run of five nights would have been a ton of tireless work to get this new work to the stage and presented for the 2026 Sydney Fringe Festival. The long list of production team for this two hander, certainly paints that picture.
This is a nonlinear, nonsensical, zero plot driven play.
The playwright describes it as; “Through this play, I wanted to interrogate a number of big ideas that ultimately converge under the thematic umbrella of ‘the fragility of time’: the artist grind, which often involves
the paralysis of self-doubt; the expectation of women to have it all.”
The director describes it as; “Sometimes we wake up and wonder: How did I get to this point? Where am I? And is this even where I want to be? be? I think that feeling is universal. Life can feel familiar, yet somehow we’ve lost our sense of where we are, who we are and we even question whether our choices are completely our own.”
Theatre of the absurd is existentialism and expresses what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down. The structure of the plays is typically a round shape, with the finishing point the same as the starting point. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and to the ultimate conclusion of silence. Or put more plainly a godless world with no start or finish and the perils of having to deal with other people.
The play really tried to attempt this, but it was filled with a bit too much Gen Z angst to really get there. If that is your cup of tea, then this is the play for you.
Pacing was an issue, particularly for the first half of the play but I take that down to opening night nerves.
I tip my hat off to the two actors for working their butts off to learn such a nonlinear script. That takes a lot of time, unless you have a photographic memory. Knowing, like most shows of the Sydney Fringe Festival, it was put together on a shoestring budget. That is something to be proud of.
Sorry I’m Late plays until September 5th at the Actor’s Pulse in Redfern.
(Take a cushion, the seats are not comfortable, but they do have air-conditioning).
To book tickets to Sorry I’m Late, please visit https://sydneyfringe.com/events/sorry-im-late/.
