Minnie and Liraz Melbourne Theatre Company

‘Minnie & Liraz’ – Melbourne Theatre Company’s hilarious new play

Melbourne Theatre Company’s newest play, Minnie and Liraz, features old ladies zipping about in mobility buggies. Bather-clad fistfights in poolside change rooms. Complaints about the daily menu, plus bitter fights over the past. Another Lally Katz gem, this quirky comedy concerns kindly Jewish grandparents possessed by raw ambition, and their last throw of the dice for their grandchildren’s marriage.

Katz beautifully fleshes out the love of a long-standing marriage, childrearing regrets, untold secrets, and our longing for intimacy. These very human wants fly about yet get tied up in a beautiful play written with superlative skill.

We revel in commanding performances from theatre legends: sophisticated Nancye Hayes (Minnie), and unforgettable Sue Jones (Liraz), whose matriarchal majesty commands the stage from the get-go.

Set in a Caulfield aged-care facility,  Katz’s play humourously presents the gentle charm of elderly desperation, centred round an annual national bridge competition. These women, one doting husband, and their head carer all speak their minds. 

Minnie and Liraz Melbourne Theatre Company

A revolving stage reveals a nursing home in all its hideous garishness — compulsory activities, lurid puce carpet, and plastic plants that create a false feeling of ‘home’. Giant-sized A3 photos of the recently deceased peer over the group as they gather for ‘life celebrations’, aka mourning rituals. The double-speak of the company line contrasts with the frank exchanges the characters.

The young sweethearts are charismatically acted by television’s Virginia Gay (Seven’s Winners and Losers) and VCA graduate, Peter Paltos. They charmingly reflect back at us the perils of the contemporary dating game. Georgina Naidu, as head carer, brings her usual skill to playing ordinary people with deep feelings.

Though this play hits the funny bone (Liraz on her beeping reversing convenience buggy will have you laughing out loud all night), it also tugs at your heart. We cried at the foibles of humans, such was the emotion these grumpy old, and difficult young, characters evoked.

Minnie and Liraz is a touching play with a happy ending.

– Sarah
Sarah W. is a dance-trained theatre lover with a flair for the bold and non-traditional performance platforms. On the street or in the box seat, she looks for quality works that push the envelope.

Minnie and Liraz runs 16 May–24 June, 8pm Mon-Sat, matinees 1pm Wed, 4pm Sat (140 mins, with 20-min interval) at Arts Centre Melbourne. Purchase tickets now.
The venue is accessible.

Disclosure: The Plus Ones paying were the guests of the Black & White Publicity.
Image credit: Melbourne Theatre Company.