‘Never Have I Ever’ // Melbourne Theatre Company

‘Never Have I Ever’ was daring.

A contemporary British work by Deborah Frances-White, ‘Never Have I Ever’ draws its inspiration from ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf’. In this adaptation, the academics are swapped for restaurateurs, the setting is swapped to contemporary London and the themes presented are very relevant for today.

The performance is almost naturalistic, with no long time breaks in the short period of action, and takes place in the same setting: a Turkish restaurant owned by the two protagonists. Deborah Frances-White captures the humanity within us; different people travelling around with different lived experiences and stories. Lives that cannot be boiled down to research papers in a journal.

The four characters depicted in ‘Never Have I Ever’ were so brilliantly written, I felt I knew them and therefore created an instant connection, which amplified the standard of this performance. Casting choices were spectacular, I thoroughly enjoyed Katie Robertson and Sunny S Walia as our lead restauranteur couple Jaq and Kas. Chika Ikogwe and Simon Gleeson play the drawn couple, Adaego and Tobin who find themselves into the bizarre drinking games.

‘Never Have I Ever’ is directed by Associate Artist Tasnim Hossain who approaches natural physicality, particularly facial expressions beautifully. This is a humorous and heart-wrenching script that makes the most of its over two-hour runtime.

It can be challenging to navigate contemporary critical theory. Many people want to be doing the right thing and hope they are doing the right thing, but ultimately discover that real people don’t think like computer screens. The reason why Frances-White’s characters are so well-written is because they have complex lives and detailed developing stories. Jaq appears privileged, though grew up hungry in poverty whereas Adaego appears marginalised, though attended an elite school and grew up wealthy. The most privileged, financier Tobin also presents himself as the most ‘woke’, a controversial term referring to being invested in critical social theory.

Jaq and Kaz are introduced to the audience as a classic entrepreneur couple. We can instantly empathise with the challenges they face as young business owners in an industry where it is hard to make a profit. Their former university friends Adaego and Tobin are presented as the perfect modern couple. As the play goes on, we find that both couples are divisive, both supporting their careers but also arguing about their differences and political stances. The discussion of social inequality and its dichotomy with the lived experiences of the characters is amongst the most profound writing I have seen on stage.

As in ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf’, drinking games are the catalyst of the action. The climax of this performance falls on a game of ‘never have I ever’, a party game where people confess their secrets. Adaego confesses she had relations with Kaz and Jaq prior to her marriage to Tobin. What Frances-White writes brilliantly is male ego and pettiness. Tobin, who presented himself as a progressive becomes possessively chauvinist. Tobin then puts himself on a path of self-destruction for the sake of petty revenge.

The set, designed by Zoe Rouse was a cross-section of a double-story restaurant building complete with fully functional fittings. Rouse also designed the costumes, which felt like they were right out of this building. Much praise must also be given to lighting designer Rachel Lee, who incorporated vibrating lights as blackouts to indicate scene changes, a very creative choice. I also enjoyed the music choices of
sound designer Sidney Millar, which took me back to 2017.

Theatre this year is only getting better, with ‘Never Have I Ever’ being a highlight so far. I highly recommend this performance, particularly to fans of ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ and other naturalistic works. I also recommend this play to anyone who has experience in contemporary political spaces or is interested in critical theory.

‘Never Have I Ever’ runs until Saturday, 22 March 2025 at Melbourne’s Arts Centre Fairfax Studio. Tickets are available via the Melbourne Theatre Company website.

Photography by Sarah Walker