Review

Clyde’s (Ensemble Theatre)

The nuances in US playwright Lynn Nottage's portrait of a last-chance diner are ironed-out in an over-the-top production.

Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, Sydney

Reviewed on 9 May, 2023

by Vaanie Krishnan on 11 May, 2023

There are few contemporary female playwrights as well known as Lynn Nottage. She has received the Pulitzer Prize in Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Sweat, and in 2017 for Ruined, both of which focus on the experience of the black working class in America, flaws and all.

In November 2021, her Clyde’s opened on Broadway. Just a year later it was touted as the “most staged play in America”. A no-brainer for production in Sydney in 2023 then, but seeing it presented at the Ensemble Theatre is something I did not expect.

Nestled deep within one of Sydney’s most affluent neighbourhoods, next to a row of houses with boat ramps and pools that back onto the Harbour, Ensemble Theatre represents everything that Clyde’s world is not. Wealth, access and second chances.

The cognitive dissonance of having these two worlds in one place is impossible to ignore and the production choices made in Clyde’s seem to reflect a theatre trying to reconcile expanding its appeal to new audiences while meeting the needs of its current subscribers.