“Blue” is a new work written and directed by Claire Yorston. Currently showing at Pip Theatre in Milton in the intimate Level 1 Studio, a black box theatre until October 4th.
The storyline was given as a romantic drama with a dark twist and came with content warnings of abuse – physical and verbal.
This opened on Friday night the 26th and the audience were privileged to an intimate setting to feel like privileged onlookers as the story unfolded.
Let’s start with the set. With double columns this could have been a very awkward space, but instead Claire designed a set where you could look and visualise the personal spaces of the characters. Designed to portray a working café, a bedroom, a lounge room and a beach, the furniture, props were enhanced by an ambitious soundscape that complimented this. And kudos to the talented light and sound tech operator Carter Firmager who managed that side very professionally, there were a lot of cues, and it all went very well. Lighting designed by Claire and sound and music by Hannah Page.
Reagan Warner, a well-known actor around Brisbane played the man. Reagan has a presence and holds the audience with the beginning monologue. His voice is rich, and the dulcet tones lulled the audience into a false sense of a fairytale romance.
Hayden Parsons played the boy – Elias who works at the coffee shop, and Laura Renee, the girl – Annette who is on the corporate ladder.
Both talented actors and well-cast for these roles.
Boy falls in love with girl, girl seems to take a while to warm up to him and then the whirlwind of romance sweeps them to marriage – the cracks appear straight away.
I don’t want to give the full plot away – I want you as the audience to experience the sudden twist like we all did on Friday night – when it happened there was a stomach drop – I could feel the hum of peoples brains trying to recalculate and compute as we moved away from the society norm of DV to what was unfolding before us.
Laura plays Annette with the coolness of someone focused on getting ahead, who warms to Elias’s charms and gentle way. Costuming is simple but suggestive of status.
Elias is that loveable scruffy kid who grew up with slightly alternative family and Hayden played him as gentle and kind.
Try to see new works, especially this one. Serious new drama must work harder to attract an audience, and this deserves to play to a full house. It is an honest portrayal of a relationship that shimmers on the outside but a toxic lava on the inside.
Not all love stories are fairy tales.
To book tickets to Blue, please visit https://piptheatre.org/2025-blue/.
