Claudia can’t land a job, her mum’s a hassle, and everything’s a bit much at the moment.

To top it off, a mishap at Rookwood Cemetery sees her pulled into the underworld and landed face-to-face with Meng Po, the Goddess of Oblivion. But Claudia’s nothing if not a go-getter, so turning misfortune into opportunity she pitches herself as ready for employment.

Eric Jiang’s new work Lacuna is a high-concept piece grounded in contemporary labour, sexuality and ethnic identity discourse. While it treads into fantastical territory, strong performances of truthfully-drawn characters keeps the audience connected with the action on-stage.

Rachel Seeto in Lacuna. Photo © Phil Erbacher

Claudia’s new gig, pulling memories from the living and disposing of them in hell’s furnace, suits her just fine. She’s learning new skills and loves working with people. She’s got a great attitude.

Things start to get a bit sticky when Claudia takes advantage of her position to curate memories which shouldn’t be touched. In large part, she’s trying to repair her relationship with her mother, which has broken down in light of Claudia’s self-discovery as a queer woman.

Although Lacuna centres on Claudia, it equally deals in boomer fantasies and mythology: cishet kids, pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, and a later life free from the terrors of ageing. It contrasts them with queerness, precarity, and a feed-like selectivity of memory and image. The struggle for Claudia and her mum to reconnect is the struggle to match an old world to a new one, and to come to some kind of mutual intelligibility.

Director Nicole Pingon follows up from Werkaholics, which also ran downstairs at Belvoir and dealt with young women’s place in the contemporary labour landscape. Once again she’s pulled some outstanding performances from her cast, in demanding physical roles.

Rachel Seeto as Claudia is unflagging in a tight 80-minute runtime that calls for a ranging performance. Cheesy humour and slapstick intercut with both vulnerability and power make Claudia a big ask, but Seeto delivers throughout the night.

Rachel Seeto and Dominic Lui in Lacuna. Photo © Phil Erbacher

Dominic Lui earns big laughs with understated delivery in a variety of roles, most of which demonstrate an ease with acrobatics and physical performance. Loretta Kung as Meng Po and Claudia’s mum is commanding in the way that only goddesses and mothers can be, even when quiet and vulnerable.

Set design by Hailley Hunt is simple and effective, while lighting by Morgan Moroney and audio by Sam Cheng are outstanding – almost integral to the production, without overwhelming the performances.

Lacuna is produced by Griffin Theatre Company and plays at Belvoir’s 25A until 15 August.