‘Horizon’ // Playlab Theatre

‘Horizon’ was exposing.

Written by Maxine Mellor and directed by Ian Lawson, Horizon is an Australian Gothic piece interrogating the current Australian landscape in a classic two-hander fashion. It follows Cole (Julian Curtis) and Sky (Ashlee Lollback) as a couple driving from Queensland’s East Coast into the deeper Australian Country. As their Ford Falcon drifts across the road, hidden truths are revealed, tensions rise, and the black-and-white morality the character has of one other is muddied into grey.   

Following Mellor’s stint as a writer-in-residence in 2019, the production was first staged as part of Playlab’s 2021 Season with actors Ngoc Phan and Sam Foster. It was subsequently awarded both the David Williamson Prize and the AWGIE for Best Stage Original Script 2022. In 2024, Playlab and the Brisbane Powerhouse revived the Australian Gothic piece for a repeat season with different actors. 

Mellor’s script is distinct.  I was continuously impressed with how seamless it appeared as an audience member.   It’s crude with its humour, lovingly cheesy at times with movie voice-over intersections, and holds two character studies tearing at the heart of gender and privilege. It doesn’t undercut from vulgarity, blood, and fear where it easily could. Rather, the explicit nature of Mellor’s playwriting voice moulds the Gothic landscape into one where the perverse ugliness of the outside seeps into their characters, making them more alluring to watch.  

Curtis and Lollback are endlessly captivating to watch. Their chemistry in this two-hander is believable, and the range they’re called to showcase in Horizon is the best I’ve seen in a long time. Curtis’ portrayal of Cole could be foul, cocky, cheeky, scared as a man trying to outgrow their father’s shadow. In a role that could easily be one-note, they give a whole symphony. Lollback is up there with them, burying themselves with defiance, nervousness, and empathy. A lawyer trying to outrun the legal profession that defines them, it was alluring to see how they navigated the disturbing revelations uncovered across the trip as well as their own.  Overall, both were flirty, charming, detestable, sympathetic, unnerving. However, adjectives ultimately feel superfluous when describing how Curtis and Lollback felt like civil animals; two domesticated dingoes in human form. 

Lawson’s direction further highlights the messiness of these characters. Physicalised movements and tense blocking both within and outside the car symbolically convey the hidden duality of how Sky and Cole see themselves. Furthermore, the mood and tension they have conjured with absolute precision fully realise the grotesque nature of the Australian Gothic genre and Mellor’s text. Fantastic work. 

Bolstered by David Walters’ Lighting, Guy Webster’s Sound and Nathan Sibthorpe’s visuals, the production’s design elements are claustrophobic as much as they are dazzling. Whether it’s heightened white lines of the road, neon tinges inside the vehicle, an echo effect on the voice as each character manoeuvres outside the Ford, or a flash of a Dingo’s howl, each component significantly enhances the story. Even at its most ‘mundane’ showing b-roll footage of the road on two screens, the subtle hum and film grain pull you into the mise-en-scène. 

Horizon is a disturbing interrogation into what walks amongst our society. Horizon is a must-see. If you’ve already seen it, Horizon is a must rewatch. Horizon is a production operating at its rawest, most tender form. But most of all, Horizon is unabashedly Australian theatre.  If this revival adds to any of that, then it is unabashedly a masterwork. See it immediately.

‘Horizon’ performs until 10 August 2024. For more information visit their website.