The Foundry Theatre is Sydney’s newest theatre space, and it is an absolute joy. Carved out at the back of the Lyric Theatre at the Star, the venue feels intimate and yet has all the trappings of a fabulous professional theatre, with superb acoustics and a clever design to make use of the space. There is no doubt that it is a wonderful addition to Sydney’s burgeoning theatre scene. 

Accordingly, the venue was the perfect host for No Love Songs, a new song cycle making its way to Australia for the first time. The show follows the story of Jesse, a struggling rock singer and his wife Lana, who fall in love with each other in a college bar and their relationship slowly progresses to the point of marriage and children. However, this is where things begin to fall apart as Jesse is continually away for his tour, leaving Lana with the brunt of the parenting work as she begins to increasingly struggle with depressive illness. This culminates in near-tragedy and heartbreak at the end of the show, which questions the foundation of the relationship and highlights the devastating impacts of postnatal depression. 

The subject matter of the song cycle is undoubtedly intense and made for harrowing viewing at times during the story. The work did a good job of conveying the pervasiveness of a postnatal depressive illness and the widespread impact that this can have on a family as well as the feelings that often accompany such an illness. It was heavy at points but necessarily so, and humour was effectively used to mitigate some of the more confronting moments. Theatre is a vehicle for storytelling and it is vital that the stories told are a true reflection of the trials and tribulations of humanity in all their manifestations so the importance of this work cannot be understated. 

With that said, the score often did not quite match the level of intensity nor the complexity of the subject matter, which meant that there was sometimes a disconnect felt within the audience. This resulted in some of the crucial messages and themes being somewhat obscured, when there was greater opportunity for the songs to add to the meaning of the production. 

The performances of the two actors, Keegan Joyce and Lucy Maunder were also solid, bringing depth to their respective characterisations as they traversed the challenging topics of the song cycle. However, both performers seemed to struggle slightly with their vocals on opening night, perhaps due to the heavy demands of the production (with only two people on stage, they had to perform for 80 minutes with very little rest), but ultimately, this meant that some connection was lost as the show progressed. The musical direction of Mark Chamberlain was considered and well-executed, with a few brief moments of flourish during the performance while on the keys. 

Overall, this was a promising production, with a fantastic script which deals with one of the more confronting themes that has been explored in new-age musical theatre. While the script could do with some musical refinement and adjustments in pacing, there is no doubt that this will be a song cycle that continues to grow and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it back with fanfare in a few years in a reformulated and reimagined way.  The acting was solid and as the performers develop more chemistry, the work will become even more effective. And plus marks to the Foundry Theatre, it will be exciting to see how the venue is utilised for theatre as the year progresses. 

Rating: ★★★1/2

No Love Songs plays at the Foundry Theatre until 13^th April. For more information, click here.

All photo credits: Brett Boardman