This production by The Actor’s Hub is designed to make you consider and question yourself and everyone you know about their relationships – from childhood to early loves, to now and into the future.

A simple black box theatre with basic colour coded costumes and props is plenty to support these energetic, fit and cohesive ensemble of 5 actors. It puts a lot more emphasis on the actors and that’s what you’re going there to see – Acting. The ensemble used accents, gesture, choreography and easily transitioned between various story tellers sharing multiple perspectives on the pandemic of domestic violence fuelled by gender roles across time. Victims, perpetrators, researchers, first responders and community bystanders share the stage.

Stories and statistics were heavy and relentless to match the serious nature of this piece of verbatim theatre. To help us digest they intertwined the age-old love story of Tristan and Isolde whose love for each other leads them to their deaths – or does it? Where does Romance end and Love begin? Does Romantic Love exist or are we only chasing our soul projections to fulfil our own needs?

There are so many stories to be told that some monologues have to be told at the same time. The exploration considers young men who think they will never be “that bad man”, how gender roles are entrenched and encouraged and we also get a training program on how to recognize the actions of someone moving towards the perpetrator role: too much too soon.

When The Actor’s Hub says they are “serious about developing actors in every sense” – they aren’t joking. The physical and mental duress that these actors push through in this performance reminds us of the demands made on the tools of the actor – voice, body and team cohesion.