This Heaven

This Heaven may occupy the small space of Belvoir's Downstairs theatre, but this incendiary play deserves to loom large on the Australian theatrical landscape.

Playwright Nakkiah Lui's story of a family drowning in grief and anger after the death of their father while in police custody resonates long after you've walked out of the theatre. In part that's due to Lui's writing, which switches effortlessly between the tranquil poetry of the Dreamtime stories and the pent-up beat poetry and hip hop-influenced staccato patterns of everyone talking at once trying to make sense of their rage.

But even the quality of Lui's writing only takes This Heaven so far. The play's impact rests a lot on the production's cast and Belvoir has struck gold with the fiery Jada Alberts, the very physical Travis Cardona and, the calm in the centre of the storm, the beautiful Tessa Rose, who plays a mother desperately holding onto the family she has left.

Though it's merely a quibble, one of the few flaws in the play is the cartoonish characterisation that we're introduced to in Ryan the police officer. But as Lui starts to flesh out the character and young actor Joshua Anderson is able to imbue Ryan with a small town ignorance, Ryan suddenly becomes a lot more real.

As the play progresses the outcome becomes inevitable, but the journey is no less powerful for the knowing.

Belvoir St, to Sunday 10 March