The disembodied voice of American-Australian writer Lally Katz floats welcomingly out of an old cassette radio.

As Katz briefly outlines the backstory of our two orphaned siblings, Gerture and Abalone, the protagonists drift cheekily into the Old Fitz space, establishing the world of play and fantasy that encompasses their very existence.

From here, Miranda Middleton and Jess Bell’s co-direction takes off like a well-controlled rocket of black comedy, fuelled by clowning and the energy of their two performers. This version of The Eisteddfod (a play first seen in Sydney in 2007) is late night indie theatre at its best.

Ziggy Resnick and Fraser Crane in The Eisteddfod. Photo supplied

Katz’s world of black comedy is established from the start: we’re told the tale of a freak tree pruning accident that leaves Abalone and Gerture orphaned and alone, crippled by agoraphobia.

Middleton and Bell have approached the two characters in a contemporary viewpoint, flipping the genders of Abalone (Ziggy Resnick) and Gerture (Fraser Crane) and thus welcome audiences to see the two characters at their very core in Katz’s writing.

The two children have established their own worlds of make-believe, shaping their own realities into...