Type – Surrealist, Abstract
If you liked – Together (2025), Mortel (KXT), Sarah Kane
Gravy: This is the type of brave and daring theatre that rarely comes around. See it while you can!
A bathtub sits atop a raised stage. Water seeps into the floor surrounding the feet of a young woman, her hair braided, sitting next to the tub on a chair. She is expressionless, dressed in black. Inside the tub, filled near to the brim with water, is an older woman – asleep or dead? We’re about to find out. This is Gravy and it is worth your time.
MERAK make bold stories of surrealism with the focus being on the human body. Their most recent work at KXT on Broadway, Mortel focused on the question of mortality and the phenomena of life. In Gravy, writer Gemma Burwell explores the pervasive and often unconscious nature of patriarchy through the intimate existence of a mother and daughter. She captures an air of a contemporary Sarah Kane in her use of brutal, shattered language and abstract surrealism.
Under Frankie Clarke’s lighting design, James Smither’s set feels effectively suffocating. The tub on stage lowers and fills with water throughout and for Trisha (Meg Hyeronimus) and Mumma (Deborah Jones) there is no escape from this isolating existence. Add in Zsa Zsa Gyulay &Milo McLaughlin’s all encompassing and physically affecting sound design, and the creatives have created a Schrödinger’s box of sorts. Trisha and Mumma are both one and the same, alive and dead, young and old, mother and daughter all at the same time, and yet they are not.
Director Saša Ljubović choreographs Burwell’s existentialism through the two performers, whilst portraying a brutal intimacy in their emotions, their words, and their actions towards each other. The notion of the gendered sacrifice that mothers choose when raising a child is a recurring motif throughout. This is mirrored in the recycled use of the water, this life giving necessity, which quite literally soaks it into every pore of the production.
In the best way, the less said prior to attending this production the better. Gravy is one to go into without any preconceived notions or judgements. It is one to experience in all its veracity and all its daring. And daring it very much is.
Is Gravy Worth Seeing in Sydney?
Gravy is a five star, lightning-in-a-bottle moment for MERAK. This is one of those shows that is equally daring as it is visually striking. It sits comfortably in surrealism, without being didactic or alienating for its audience. At its centre, two extraordinary women offer a performance of synchronicity and depth. In its short run of just over a week, this is a production to go out of your way to witness for the sheer bravery in its delivery and craft
Tickets and Practical Info for Gravy in Sydney 🎟️
MERAK in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co presents Gravy by Gemma Burwell
Sunday 22nd February / 5pm
RUN TIME: 60 minutes
LOCATION: KXT on BROADWAY, 181 Broadway, Ultimo NSW 2007
BOOKINGS: https://www.kingsxtheatre.com/gravy
TICKETS: $35 Previews / $50 Full / $40 Concession
Wednesday 18th – Saturday 28th February / 7:30pm
CAST & CREATIVES
Director Saša Ljubović with Meg Hyeronimus & Deborah Jones
Playwright Gemma Burwell
Understudies Jess Spies & Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Lighting Designer Frankie Clarke
Sound Designers Zsa Zsa Gyulay & Milo McLaughlin
Set Designer & Builder James Smithers
Stage Manager Daniel Weardon
Assistant Director Renée Billing
Photographer Abraham de Souza
Producer Shannon Thomas
Consulting Producer Dino Dimitriadis
Presented by MERAK
