Every Lovely Terrible Thing

STAND UP TO YOUR FAMILY AND YOU CAN STAND UP TO ANYONE.

Widowed matriarch Jerica yearns to sell the decaying family home and break free from her past. Her conservative son Charles seeks to reinvent himself as a modern publican and councillor, while his wife Phoebe doesn’t know what she wants – except that it’s probably not Charles. Meanwhile, underneath all their noses, reclusive grandchild Cooper forges an unlikely connection with Lachie, the enigmatic tradie tasked with repairing Jerica’s house.

Things are finally looking up for the Colemans until Jerica’s estranged, prickly daughter Brit returns home guarding a secret so big it threatens to blow up the entire family.

A universal tale of love, courage and intergenerational trauma, this darkly comedic new Australian play boldly examines why families stay together – and what happens when they can’t.

2024 World Premiere

29 February – 16 March 2024 | Theatre Works, St Kilda

Creative Team

Playwright Adam Fawcett
Director Justin Nott
Set Design Harry Gill
Lighting Design Sidney Younger
Sound Design Tom Backhaus
Costume Design Martelle Hunt
Video Design Aron Murray
Stage Manager Ashleigh Walwyn
Presenter Lab Kelpie & Theatre Works

Cast
Lyall Brooks
Emma Choy
Sharon Davis
Jordan Fraser-Trumble
Megan Jones
Wil King

Digital Program

Download the program here.

Promo Video

Production Images

Images by Pia Johnson.

Vox Pop

PRESENTED BY

SUPPORTED BY

This project received support from City of Port Phillip, Creative Victoria and Australian Plays Transform.

It has been a long time since I have seen an original Australian play with a really classic feel and timbre. I mean the kind of play which resonates with the depth of plays like Summer of The Seventeenth Doll or The One Day of The Year for example. Every Lovely Terrible Thing sits, rather surprisingly, in that wheelhouse. A great piece of text-based theatre written with confidence and depth. A play to see and remember as part of the Australian canon.

Every Lovely Terrible Thing is an ambitious exploration of the costs of keeping secrets and the price we pay to tell them. The world that Fawcett conjures feels expansive and full of depth, and it’s enjoyable to watch each of the character's truths tumble into the light during the two hour show. There’s a satisfying symmetry in the subplots that almost feels like When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell. Despite the traumatic events at the heart of the play, Fawcett’s writing has a deep empathy and care which helps navigate and guide us into the world of the Colemans.

Fawcett’s endlessly surprising and enigmatic Every Lovely Terrible Thing is queer and stylised; it loves spectacle and reveres aesthetic (it has a human-sized Easter Bunny and a lip sync at a funeral, after all). But this two-hour dramedy breaks new ground by finding camp in an unlikely place: childhood trauma.

Every Lovely Terrible Thing is a testament to Fawcett’s vision. Their penchant for exploring queerness and trauma with a blend of domesticity and humour, promises work that is deeply passionate and deeply personal. Excels in the campy juxtaposition of humour and horror.