A full house for STC’s Home, I’m Darling

STC’s Home, I’m Darling will finally hit the stage next month after its 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19, and the production will be able to welcome full audiences after the Sydney Opera House was approved to return to 100 per cent capacity.

Winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, Laura Wade’s Home, I’m Darling is a piercingly funny story of one woman’s quest to be the ideal 1950s housewife…in the 21st Century. The show speaks to society’s penchant for nostalgia and the (now more than ever) relatable desire to stay home and escape from a world that seems all too overwhelming.

Protagonist Judy spends her days making the perfect devilled eggs, mixing the perfect Screwdrivers and being the perfect homemaker to her husband Johnny. They’re totally happy with their pastel-hued life. The only problem is that it’s not the 1950s, it’s now, and Judy and Johnny’s dream world is starting to come apart at the perfectly sewed seams.

Helmed by Resident Director Jessica Arthur (Wonnangatta) with a stellar ensemble including Andrea Demetriades (Arms and the Man) and Anthony Taufa (How to Rule the World), this witty production takes a look at the complexity of women’s choices and the dangers of romanticising the past through distinctly rose-coloured glasses.

Arthur says her production of Home, I’m Darling will be very relevant to Australian audiences in 2021, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic.

After having lived through lockdowns, ‘doom scrolling’ and ‘zoom fatigue’, I think audiences can relate to Judy on a deeper level,” Arthur says. “The idea of locking yourself away, reflecting on happier and safer times and not engaging with spiraling events in the outside world isn’t that far-fetched any more.

Arthur said she hopes audiences will leave questioning both the power and potential destruction of choice.

In Home I’m Darling, you watch Judy, with good intentions at heart, ultimately making choices that isolate and oppress – not just herself but also the people around her,” Arthur says. “I think this play also makes you consider how it is possible to be isolated in a world full of people. Fear can keep you from moving forward, especially in a world that feels so much bigger and faster than you.

Laura Wade is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from the UK. Home, I’m Darling premiered at Theatre Clwyd in 2018 before transferring to the National Theatre where it received rave reviews. In 2019, Home, I’m Darling won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy, the same year the show had its Australian premiere at Melbourne Theatre Company. Wade’s other works include stage adaptations of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons for Chichester Festival Theatre in 2018 and Sarah Waters’ Tipping The Velvetin 2015, which premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith before transferring to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

Venue: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Date: 6 April – 15 May
Tickets available via STC HERE