​‘I'd always thought that you split up with someone because you'd stopped loving them, or realised you never did.’

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Set for the most part inside the head of the romantically-troubled main protagonist Stuart, Realism is a play that presents his dream-world as reality.

Written by Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson in 2006, the play has been re-contextualised to a contemporary Australian world by director Jessica Arthur for its NIDA iteration.

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As a man confined to his home over the course of a lazy Sunday, Stuart ­– and thus the audience – weaves in and out of consciousness in a play split between the imagined world born out in Stuart’s dreams as he sleeps and the uneventfulness of his reality, where he eats, naps and watches TV.

In his dreams, Stuart explores his deepest fears and desires through relationships with loved ones, current news events and colourful memories from his past. Drawing on happenings from his life starring the people who are important to him, Stuart’s dreams are fantastical, moving, frightening and emotionally revealing.

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Written by Anthony Neilson

Directed by Jessica Arthur

 

Performed by:

Zelman Cressey-Gladwin

Maryanne Fonceca

Mandela Mathia

Wendy Mocke

Helia Sulak

Vaishnavi Suryaprakash

Nikita Waldron

Dalara Williams

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Set Design by Maya Keys
Costume Design by Patrick Howe

Lighting Design by Brittany Coombs

Sound Design by Kingsley Reeve

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Images by Lisa Tomasetti