Once upon a time you were best friends, joined at the hip, partners in crime — but nowadays you’re not speaking and have no idea where they are in the world.
Maybe you just drifted apart, one of you moved, someone married someone the other didn’t approve of, or maybe they ran off with your boyfriend. Did they find religion? Was it a big blow‑up argument, or a slow demise? Friendships end, and it’s rich pickings for storytelling.
For the Best is a theatrical experience that draws its story from the communities in which it is placed. In the months ahead of the show, the artists involved invite people to share their stories of broken friendship, and these tales are woven into the work.
Some stories are so great they’re kept in the ever‑changing and evolving presentation. But over time they might begin to be cut down to make way for wilder and more spectacular accounts.
The work is created by The Last Great Hunt’s playwright Jeffrey Jay Fowler and performed by duo Whiskey and Boots, comprising enigmatic performers Georgia King and Mark Storen. Acclaimed musician Luke Dux creates a live soundtrack to the work on his guitar.
This time around the production has gathered stories from the people of Melville, and they’ve brought on board special guest performer, actor and filmmaker Alexandra Nell, to help share the testimonies.
Melville City Council’s Main Hall is not a venue I’d ever visited before. As we followed our GPS advice, we circled Garden City Shopping Centre and wove our way through a series of dark car parks before discovering an ominous brutalist structure. After following some helpful signs, we came across a brightly lit courtyard, a pop‑up bar and, inside, a charming theatre space. Who knew this was here.
A sold‑out opening‑night audience filled the space. The three performers sat on chairs with microphones in front of them; off to the side, Luke Dux cradled his electric guitar. Playwright Jeffrey Jay Fowler milled in the background — he’s also running the tech for the show, cueing lights and triggering sounds. Additional chairs brought the audience into the performance space; it’s very intimate.
For the Best features the rapid‑fire spoken‑word delivery that has previously been a hallmark of Fowler’s writing. The three performers deliver their first series of lines in quick succession — it’s like the Beastie Boys have dived into theatre. The accounts are overlaid, mixed up and jumbled as we hear a landslide of explanations of how people met, what they had in common, what sparked a friendship and, ultimately, how it ended.
As the show progresses, we get longer and more individual accounts of failed fellowship and kinship killed. It’s inevitable that everyone in the audience begins to think of their own friendships long gone — the people who were once a big part of your world but nowadays you never speak to.
It’s a theatrical experience that encourages that reflection, but also kindly gives us a salve of forgiveness and justification – maybe friendships end when they are meant to, or maybe it really was all their fault anyway. The artists explain that as this show travels from community to community, new stories are added, old ones are shortened and eventually discarded. It’s an ever‑evolving work.
This also leads to it potentially being a work that is slightly too long. It’s packed with stories, bursting at the seams, like a suitcase being forced shut at the airport by sitting on it while you try to simultaneously zip it up.
This production is, however, very popular. The opening night on Friday was a sell‑out, and both Saturday night and Sunday’s performances are also fully booked. If you move fast, you might be able to score a ticket to the additional Sunday matinee that’s been added to the schedule.
For the Best is playing at the Melville Main Hall in Booragoon until Sunday 11 April, tickets are on sale now.
