Sumner Theatre, Melbourne
November 23, 2017

Even before the play seemed to have begun, as an amplified voice in the darkness acknowledged the traditional owners of the land, it became clear that we were in for a bumpy night of comedy. The voice grew sarcastic, playing with the perhaps universally white, middle-class audience’s guilt about Indigenous Australians and refugees. After this murder in the dark of liberal smugness, Eddie Perfect’s new play for the Melbourne Theatre Company proceeded to steamroll over the audience’s very probable preoccupation with home ownership.

Virginia Gay, Christina O’Neill, Ben Mingay and Keegan Joyce in Melbourne Theatre Company’s Vivid White. Photos © Jeff Busby

Unashamedly set in Melbourne, with references to suburbs whose level of residential desirability only locals could appreciate, Vivid White centres on two couples who want to buy the same house. A rift develops between these long-time friends, making their values – in both senses of the word – clear. TV light entertainer Evan and his producer-wife Cynthia are cashed up, while Liz and Ben are struggling to make a living from their fringe satirical band, which Evan moved on from years ago.

The absurdities of an overheated...