Red Sky Morning, at Theatre Works

There is disconnect between three members of the one family, a husband, wife and daughter who live in regional Australia and are struggling.

It is not as if they want it that way, but that is what they are living with. 

Photos by Sarah Clarke

They speak about their thoughts and feelings. They dare to dream and live out nightmares.

The man speaks of his love for his wife and yet doesn’t read her cues.

He also plays out his pain and anguish, and is suicidal.

The woman is unhappy with her body and loses herself in drink. 

The girl likes soapies, fantasises about one of her teachers, and starts pounding into one of her friends.

These are just some of the images presented in Tom Holloway’s award-winning* Red Sky Morning of a trio barely clinging on.

It is a story of isolation, opportunities missed and the yearning for connection. 

Voices overlap (two or three often speak at the same time), clash and collide, a deliberate ploy on the writer’s part. 

Each is expressive in his or her own way and yet they appear to be at cross purposes.

There is a fragility about their situation, one that threatens to shatter at any moment.

Three sharp performances characterise an intense portrait of disquiet and discontent.

Alpha Kargbo, Emma Choy and Izabella Day are uniformly strong and eloquent, as they make their presence felt.

Kargbo and Choy are dressed casualty, while Day is in school uniform. 

Harry Gill’s set – a shiny black, flat platform stage angled up, upon which sit 10 silver poles of varying heights – is immediately alluring.

Dramatic and mysterious sounds greet patrons as they enter the theatre and are heard at various junctures throughout the performance.

The “spookiness” is the fine work of composer and sound designer Jack Burmeister.

Lighting too, shaded and bright, helps establish mood. That is the domain of Sidney Younger.

Keeping a tight rein on proceedings is director Lyall Brooks, who makes each scene count.

Red Sky Morning is a lyrical work with a sombre tone that sears into the brain in presenting a distressing picture.

Sixty minutes without interval, it is on at Theatre Works until 16^th May, 2026.

* Red Sky Morning won the 2008 Green Room Award for Best New Australian Play