Atlantis (KXT on Broadway) ★★★

Written by Paul Gilchrist. subtlenuance, in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company. KXT Vault. KXT on Broadway. 8-17 Nov, 2025.

KXT on Broadway christens its studio space, the KXT Vault, with a new staging of Paul Gilchrist’s short play, Atlantis. It’s an intriguing choice to open an equally interesting new intimate venue.

Sarah (Veronica Clavijo) and Tom (Jimmy Hazelwood) are on the run. Fleeing Sydney on foot, they’ve hitched rides as far as they could on their way to Byron Bay to see if Sarah’s aunty Zelda (Sylvia Marie) can put them up until things blow over. To earn their keep, they start working in her spiritualist store, hocking crystals and dreamcatchers to the gullible. While they secretly mock the clientele, they start to wonder how different, really, is Zelda’s past life as an Atlantean princess from Tom’s as an inept drug dealer, or Sarah’s as a struggling actress? It’s all in the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world.

Written and directed by Gilchrist, this pop-up production makes use of the Vault’s enforced intimacy with numerous fourth-wall-breaking asides that heighten our awareness that this is a story about stories, told by storytellers. Naturalism is not the name of the game here. The heightened language demands your attention, accented with moments of humour.

This is a cerebral affair full of wry observations about life – you can feel the authorial voice speaking through the characters. Between the witty commentary on contemporary society it asks us to consider which stories are worse – the cheeky half-truths and lies Tom tells Sarah, or the kooky delusions Zelda tells herself? One does more harm than the other.

The Vault itself is a simple space, seating about 30 people in two rows, facing a corner. The stage area is given an ethereal quality thanks to tasteful lighting & simple design elements — fairy lights, birdcages, and the occasional wind chime. Washed in a purple glow, things feel otherworldly. The abstraction accentuates the actors, though there is a slightly awkwardness in their performances as they wrangle the dense dialogue that detracts from the emotion.

Almost ten years on from the play’s debut (at the old KXT, as part of the Sydney Fringe 2016), this Atlantis has risen again. It’s a solid start of KXT’s Underground programming – a small scale piece that will get your mind working.