On the surface, Continuity presented by New Theatre and directed by Sahn Millington, appears to be a straightforward backstage comedy about a Hollywood film production spiraling into chaos. Dig deeper, and this play by Bess Wohl reveals itself as something considerably more complex. It's a meditation on artistic compromise, environmental responsibility, and the gap between cinematic intention and actual impact.
The production opens with a movie trailer voiceover, immediately establishing the theatrical sleight of hand that defines the evening. We're watching a play about making a film, which means navigating multiple layers of performative reality simultaneously. The melodramatic on-screen acting captures a Hollywood brand of overwrought environmentalism. An eco-terrorist hero plants a bomb to save the planet in an Arctic film shot in the New Mexico desert specifically because of tax rebates. The irony isn't subtle, and the production embraces that openly.
Continuity refuses to present the play as a simple cautionary tale. Instead, Millington's direction, through comedy, captures the genuine complexity of people working with good intentions amid systemic pressures. When actors question the director's choices, when the writer struggles to update climate statistics that change faster than scripts can accommodate, when someone notices the lead doesn't even drive a hybrid, these moments land with both humour and authentic friction, rather than programmatic critique.
The cast performs with impressive comic timing and chemistry. Nick Curnow, Susan Jordan, Jessica Joseph-McDermott, Andrew McLaughlin, Sarah Nader, Julie Quinn, Noah Rayner, Michelle Robin Anderson, and Sora Wakaki work to create a frazzled, interconnected ensemble where professional tension mingles with romantic history and jealousy. The various performers' sensitive moments together provide genuine emotional grounding amid the chaos, preventing the production from becoming mere farce.
Michelle Robin Anderson playing the film's director deserves particular recognition. The character's description of feeling "pecked to death by ducks" perfectly captures the specific exhaustion of managing artistic vision while navigating actor ego, budget constraints, and the integrity of maintaining environmental responsibility. Similarly Nick Curnow, as the writer, registers genuine depression about covering a climate catastrophe when the facts become outdated faster than rewrites can address them. These aren't punchlines so much as honest observations about contemporary creative work.
Lighting Designer Julian Dunne creates some genuinely beautiful atmospheric moments that provide visual relief from the verbal chaos, while reinforcing the production's environmental themes. The visual contrast between desert heat and arctic aesthetics suggests the fundamental absurdity of the project, shooting a film about climate collapse in conditions that actively undermine that narrative.
The production's structural commitment to capturing a crew fighting against the clock to complete a shot before losing the light creates some ongoing dramatic momentum. There's real pressure on this set, and the cast conveys it through rapid-fire dialogue and physical restlessness. The 80-minute runtime without intermission maintains this kinetic energy, with the audience experiencing something approximating the pressured state the film's cast and crew inhabit.
Note that Continuity is far from mere hectoring climate-change theatre. It actually refuses to simplify. The film's science advisor, a remarkably performed charicature by Sarah Nader, delivers distinct factual grounding, sometimes dramatic, often empassioned, but never as a sermon. The comedy remains punctuated by genuinely solemn moments that acknowledge the stakes without abandoning humour.
Sahn Millington's direction again demonstrates a gift for managing ensemble dynamics while maintaining thematic clarity. The production communicates an environmental message without feeling preachy, a considerable achievement given the material's potential for didacticism.
The production succeeds as both an entertaining comedy and a thoughtful examination of how storytelling engages (or fails to engage) urgent contemporary issues. The cast's chemistry and impeccable timing make the workplace chaos genuinely funny, while the script's underlying concerns about artistic integrity and environmental representation resonate without overwhelming the entertainment.
Although this is entertaining theatre with something to say, it's delivered with enough self-awareness to avoid sanctimony and enough genuine feeling to avoid cynicism.
DATES/TIMES:
Thu – Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm
Final performance Sat 20 Jun 2pm
Running time: 80 minutes, no interval.
Tickets and more info: https://newtheatre.org.au/continuity/
(images: © Bob Seary)
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