The premise: Nine friends meet for a dinner party, each with their own emotional baggage. It is slowly unpacked as the dinner progresses.

Written by Emily Burton, this young, vibrant and slick one-act play ‘Potluck at Nine’ was brought to the intimate space of Biology classroom at Girls School for FRINGE WORLD.

The audience is dropped straight into the action – all actors are on stage as we make our way to our seats. Then, with the customary dimming of lights, the play begins with each character stopping at various junctures to share a bit of their story with us. We are taken to their past, sometimes just to the hour before arriving to the dinner and other times, a long way back to their childhood. This then influences how they behave at the dinner.

All nine guests are thoughtfully fleshed out, although you might identify with one of the characters more than the rest. The tiny classroom we were in made it a tight set with nine people onstage, jostling for space. To their credit, it was executed well and no one fell off the stage. Some of the dialogue sounded a bit inscrutable to me. Is this how people speak? What did some of the characters mean? But the audience is all-forgiving as the lines are delivered with poise and confidence, a pleasure for us to watch even if the meaning is somewhat tenuous.

For a new theatre company, All the Ways Theatre Co must be commended for creating and delivering local plays to Perth audiences. This is a good production with strong cast, catch it while you can!