Heart is a Wasteland opens with actor Maitland Schnaars alone, his hand slowly rising upwards towards his head in a near-spastic, semi-paralysed fist. He relates a terrible nightmare in which a fog of black, oily mist rolls over him and coats him.

It’s an arresting, physically taut beginning to Yirra Yaakin’s production of John Harvey’s Heart is a Wasteland, which otherwise plays out as a tense yet tender two-hander for Schnaars as Dan and Claire Fermo as Raye.

The two characters act out an intense love affair conducted as they move from one pub to another, between Roxby Downs in South Australia, Coober Pedy and finally Alice Springs. Not far from their route lie the poisoned lands of Maralinga, which have infected Dan’s dreams.

Claire Fermo and Maitland Schaars in Yirra Yaakin Theatre Co’s Heart is a Wasteland. Photo © Jessica Wyld

Yirra Yaakin’s production of Heart is a Wasteland was co-directed by Bobbi Henry and Schnaars. Originally written for cinema, critics have compared it to a road movie. It is performed on a near-empty stage enhanced by projections (designer Eilish Campbell; projections Mia Holton), which masks the fact that little action...