Type – Comedy, Madcap, Climate Change Message
If you liked – Noises Off, Speed-The-Plow, The Studio (Series), The Bad and the Beautiful (Film)
Continuity: A thoroughly enjoyable comedic romp, with a serious heart.
New Theatre’s production of Beth Wohl’s play Continuity is a madcap comedy set on the chaotic location shoot of a Hollywood eco-thriller. One of the many sources of the humour in this play is the fact that they are trying to finish a scene set on an Arctic ice floe, even though they are in the middle of the stinking hot New Mexico desert because of “tax breaks”. There is a multitude of snarky in-jokes about filmmaking, art, movie stars, writers and studios to keep everyone chuckling.
As the film’s director, Michelle Robin Anderson is excellent. An arthouse director, she is trying to prove to the studio that she can pull off the big budget blockbuster, while racing against fading daylight, production problems, and growing tensions among the cast and crew. Her increasing desperation unfolds naturally and spikes in a darkly hilarious climax.
Jessica Joseph-Mcdermott as the Anne Hathaway-esque star is quite perfect in the classic depiction of the self-obsessed yet brittle Hollywood type. Andrew McLaughlin as her no-carb, looksmaxxing co-star lands the right note of clueless/cynical in his ambition to join the Marvel Universe. Sarah Nader as the young scientist who has had her part brutally cut gets the laughs as she makes the most of her big moment – falling to the ground as she is shot (several times). New Theatre stalwart Nick Curnow as the writer and director’s ex-husband provides much comic material; everyone groans when it’s announced “the writer is coming on the set”. Susan Laurie as the film’s science advisor channels Holly Hunter well in her tone and style whilst trying to correct the script’s more blatant errors about climate science. Top marks go to Julie Quinn as the young eager-to-please PA and Noah Rayner as the jaded, seen-it-all-before First AD. Their double act provides a constant stream of visual and verbal gags that is a joy to watch.
Sahn Millington’s direction makes extensive use of the stage area and set, with the central ice-floe film set (a circle of white carpet!) surrounded by the drab empty space full of lights and cameras. She employs dynamic blocking and uses the floor so that no one is ever just standing around watching the others. Sitem Caca’s costumes and David Marshall-Martin’s set are full of the knick-knacks and accoutrements of filmmaking, everyone in their chinos and gilets, festooned with headphones, walkie-talkies, and other tech gadgets. Chloe Callow’s soundscape brings an authentic grunt to the set, and there’s some beautiful silhouettes, sunsets and fades in Julian Dunne’s lighting.
The snow-machine with its shredded paper snow and the polystyrene ice rocks are an endless source of mirth. The exaggerated efforts to present ‘reality’ in a film, whilst we witness the many tricks and takes that go into creating this utterly unreal world, are part of the script’s thematic undercurrent. While they struggle to create the climate effects in the film, in the real world it is actually happening.
Wohl’s deep investment in the ‘continuity’ of the earth in the face of climate catastrophe is evident in the increasing amount of dialogue given to the science advisor. For the most part, the script is tight, comedy-focused and whips the action along at a good pace. The final scene finds a didactic mode that abruptly halts both the action and the comedy; Wohl’s awareness-raising intention is plainly evident here, but I think most of the people who choose to spend their free time at a small theatre in Newtown, watching a play about climate change, are probably already well on board with the message.
Is Continuity Worth Seeing in Sydney?
Overall this is a really strong production; well directed, with solid and at times excellent acting on display, plenty of laughs and tightly executed visual comedy, it comes in at a disciplined 80-minutes, which is just about the perfect length of a contemporary play or film. A spoonful of sugar really does make the medicine go down!
Tickets and Practical Info for Continuity in Sydney 🎟️
By Beth Wohl
Directed by Sahn Millington
New Theatre, Newtown
Until 20 June 2026
Tickets: here
Creatives
Director: Sahn Millington
Assistant Director/Sound Designer: Chloe Callow
Set Designer: David Marshall-Martin
Costume Designer: Sitem Caca
Lighting Designer: Julian Dunne
Dialect Coach: Helen Tonkin
Fight Choreographer: Max Shaw
Cast
Maria: Michelle Robin Anderson
David Caxton: Nick Curnow
Eve/Nicole: Jessica Joseph-Mcdermott
George/Jake: Andrew Mclaughlin
Dr Anna Gerber/Lily: Sarah Nader
Laurie: Susan Jordan
PA: Julie Quinn
First AD: Noah Rayner
Camera Op & Crew: Sora Wakaki
