EXXY (Sydney Festival) ★★★

Created by Dan Daw & Company. Co-written by Brian Lobel. Sydney Opera House. Sydney Festival. 15-18 January, 2026.

Dan Daw’s return to Sydney Festival is a deliberate struggle. EXXY is about survival in a world not designed for people with differing forms of disability. There is tension in every step – physically and narratively.

After a warm prologue in which Daw explains the elements of the show that may adversely affect audiences sensitive to light and sound (echoing the preamble in Belvoir’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time last year), the show begins with the piece-by-piece destruction of a large poster of Daw himself. Deconstruction is the name of the game in a show that revels in its abstraction.

Set in an outback backyard, with a tin shed, saltbush growing from the soil and a lot of open space, Daw tells his story of growing up. He recalls memories of his grandmother singing as he played outside, unencumbered by societal expectations of how he, a child with cerebral palsy, should move or be presented. As an unselfconscious child, he was free to drool and move as his body demanded.

As life progresses, the need and desire to fit in – to not offend – grows harder. Daw, along with his fellow cast (Tiiu Mortley, Joseph Brown and Sofia Valdiri), is put through his paces.

At times it feels like Daw is prodding the audience for a reaction. There are prompted moments of interaction, with lines projected on a screen for the audience to repeat, alongside stories clearly designed to generate applause. We become puppets and props in the storytelling, playing both willing supporters and harsh eyes. When the cast is showered in coins, you have to ask yourself: did we just make these four disabled performers dance for their supper?

EXXY is a real step up stylistically, if not thematically, from the internationally renowned The Dan Daw Show. Kat Heath’s moody set gives the production depth, supported by lighting and sound from Nao Nagai and Lewis Gibson. Guy Connelly’s thumping score lends an aggressive edge that builds towards moments of euphoria. This show looks and sounds sexy – a true main stage piece.

Conceptually, much of EXXY hits hard. It’s challenging and often richer for it, but the storytelling feels frustratingly muddled. Long monologues invite us into Daw’s world, but they begin to drift. The physical vignettes are presented with a level of obscurity that left me guessing at their intent.

There are gaps that remain unresolved. What is the connection between the title EXXY (short for expensive, according to the show’s blurb, but never mentioned on stage) and the hardy saltbush, or the recurring focus on drool? And how do the off-stage commands for the cast to perform connect with the moments of encouraged, or enforced, audience cheering? For me, these ideas never quite knit together or get explored deeply enough.

In the end, I felt frustrated and a little manipulated. But maybe that was the point all along. EXXY certainly left me asking questions about the performance and my own response to it – and in that, it’s clearly a success.