What wine goes best with some bad news and shattered dreams?
Jacq and Kas had a dream of opening their own restaurant, with an investment from Tobin, the husband of their old college friend Adeago, they set about making the dream a reality.
Tonight the restaurant is closed, but the four friends are gathering for a dinner party. Jacq and Kas will be breaking some bad news to the oldest friends. The business has failed, and their substantial investment is gone.
As they down drinks and look back and what could have been the foursome’s masks are removed, and thanks to a round of the party game Never Have I Ever, they start to learn some blunt truths and hard character assessments, and slowly secrets slip and the gloves come off.
Deborah Frances-White first made her mark as a comedian, but her profile increased dramatically after she found success with the podcast The Guilty Feminist. Along the way she’s been a panelist on British comedy shows, written the screenplay to a feature film and delivered her debut play Never Have I Ever.
It’s definitely a play for the times we currently live in, and theatre company’s have quickly embraced it. It was part of the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2025 program, and Black Swan State Theatre also selected in to be part of their season. The work had its debut at the Chichester Festival just two years ago.
Frances-White’s hilarious and cutting tale tackles modern politics and sexual power dynamics. People of Colour, the hashtag Me Too movement, sexism, misogyny, queer identities, business gurus, performative activism, and everything else, is in the firing line in this clever and engrossing production that leaves the audience gasping, wondering, and most of all – laughing.
With a provocative and biting script, the production shines thanks to four outstanding performances. Black Swan regular Will O’Mahoney is the rich and privileged Tobin, who works really hard to not come across as a rich and privileged straight white guy. Ratidzo Mambo plays his journalist wife, while big personality restaurateur Jacq is portrayed by Emile Rose Brennan and Deep Sroa is her long term partner Kas – happily standing in her shadow.
Bryan Woltjen has created a bold and innovative multilevel set, and director Kate Champion has woven some magic to keep the four performances in balance and the action racing along at a solid pace.
The laughs are plentiful and on one level the themes being explored boldly declared. It’s about the changes that have come to society in recent years that have called on men to stop mansplaining, asked us to believe women, promoted putting diverse voices front and centre and called on sexual powerplays.
And while all those themes are on the surface, underneath this is also a play about class differences, having dreams, making choices and asking ourselves – who are we really?
Never Have I Ever is at the State Theatre Centre until 6th July, tickets are on sale now.
