Aria (Ensemble) ★★★★

Written by David Williamson. World Premiere. Ensemble Theatre. 24 Jan – 15 Mar, 2025.

Sydney’s delusional, monied elites are in for a pasting in David Williamson’s sharp-tongued Aria. If you’ve spent any time with the privileged offspring who populate the city’s more prestigious private schools, or with the pampered show-ponies of the Eastern Suburbs, you’ll recognise people identical to this cast of characters. Aria seems like a broad comedy, but it could just as easily be a wildlife documentary.

Monique (Tracy Mann) is ready for her big day. Her three sons are coming over for dinner to celebrate their joint birthday. Her oldest twins, Liam (Jack Starkey-Gill) and Daniel (Sam O’Sullivan), and her youngest, Charlie (Rowan Davie), born three years later on the same day. She adores them all, even if they’re not quite living up to their potential, despite her best efforts. Monique knows who’s to blame: their awful wives. But she is determined to enjoy the day, give a heartwarming speech, and sing her most difficult aria yet!

Tracy Mann is absolutely fabulous as the champagne-swilling, controlling family matriarch, Monique. Her insidious commentary and malicious maternal remarks are executed with comedic flair. In a virtuosic performance, Mann tackles a mountain of text (her birthday speech runs for four uninterrupted pages – do yourself a favour and grab a copy of the playtext at the theatre), as well as performing a full Mozart aria. Monique’s delusions aren’t limited to her musical ability; her vision of her children is equally skewed.

Around her spin three couples so quintessentially Sydney that it almost hurts. There’s the eldest twin, Liam, a junior minister in the state government, convinced he nearly has the numbers to make a pitch for the leadership, and his wife, Chrissy (Suzannah McDonald – a scene-stealer), all blonde, motherly perfection, falling apart at the seams. Then there’s the second twin, Daniel, born 10 minutes after Liam, who plays second fiddle to his lawyer wife, Judy (Danielle King), whom Monique despises for her middle-class upbringing. Finally, there’s Charlie, who’s already lost one wife and has married the younger Midge (Tamara Lee Bailey), a bombshell beautician with a no-nonsense tongue. Between the brothers’ sibling resentments and the wives’ frustration at being belittled by Monique, each character is a cauldron of emotions, waiting for Monique to turn up the heat and give it one final stir.

The cast, all excellent, bring characters so clearly defined and realised that it’s easy to simply relax into the silliness and revel in the slow-moving train wreck unfolding before you. While the opening moments of the play felt artificial, things quickly found their rhythm, building to the cathartic eruption of family grievances finally aired. While not as vicious as August: Osage County, it is definitely more charmingly comedic.

Kudos to David Williamson for holding it all together. After feeling slightly underwhelmed by last year’s The Great Divide, Aria hits the high notes. The story is clear without being obvious, the characters real(ish) without being predictable, and the jokes bubble up from character rather than feeling overtly contrived. It is a well-balanced script, delivered by a writer who knows their craft.

My enjoyment was undoubtably heightened by the fact I’d recently had a conversation that was almost identical to one in the script. Well, it’s true! You don’t want to be sat at Aria (the restaurant) and not have a window seat – what’s the point? #MidgeWasRight

Aria is, first and foremost, simply fun. Littered with timely observations and lightly dusted with societal commentary, it is primarily a piece of entertainment – and it hits the mark. It’s the diva at its centre who deserves all the applause – brava Tracy Mann, brava!