EVENT CANCELLED
All performances of Family Values has been cancelled.
If you booked through Riverside Theatres, a member of our Box Office will contact ticket holders regarding refund options.
Riverside Theatres presents
David Williamson’s
FAMILY VALUES
A Griffin Theatre Company Production
“I had imagined we’d get together and reminisce about the good times, completely forgetting that there weren’t any.”
A celebrated federal judge.
His son, a born-again Christian.
His daughter, a Border Force Officer.
Her partner, the captain of a Border Force ship.
His other daughter, a left-wing activist.
His wife, who has worked all her life to keep the family together.
Saba, an asylum seeker on the run from Nauru.
On the eve of his birthday, is it too much to expect his wife and three children celebrate with him?
For 50 years, David Williamson has shown us the best and worst of ourselves. A blackly comic drama situated squarely on the fault lines that divide Australia, Family Values is David at his angry best: furious that his generation has retired from defending the socially compassionate values on which they claim to have built this country. The play asks us to choose freedom over reputation, empathy over franking credits; to abandon a deeply flawed system for the sake of humanity.
David’s belief that comedy can reveal our harshest truths is undimmed, and his hope that theatre can change hearts and minds remains an inspiration to the whole industry.
Director
Lee Lewis
Dramaturg
Van Badham
Set and Costume Designer
Sophie Fletcher
Lighting Designer
Benjamin Brockman
Composer and Sound Designer
Steve Francis
Stage Manager
Khym Scott
Performers
Belinda Giblin
Andrew McFarlane
Jamie Oxenbould
Ella Prince
Bishanyia Vincent
Danielle King
Sabryna Walters
“A powerful, funny and poignant call to action”
★★★★ Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald
“This funny, moving and relevant play takes its place in the canon of great Australian plays”
★★★★1/2 Judith Greenaway, Reviews by Judith
“Family Values’ hits the stage like a theatrical tsunami”
★★★★ Jo Litson, Limelight Magazine
“Fiery, funny, politically cunning and dramatically assured”
★★★★ Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
“Williamson’s passion for compassion is the strength of this play”
★★★★ Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
“Family Values is a grumpy old man writing at his cheerfully angry best.”
Richard Cotter, The Australian Stage
“Family Values is uncomfortable, confronting work, rendered with care, intelligence and a carefully tempered earnest exuberance by an outstanding cast.”
Ian Maxwell, The Conversation
“Lee Lewis and an exceptional cast… achieve a near perfect drive of natural comedy and intensity of performance.”
Martin Potus, Stage Whipsers
Photos
