Every once in a while you leave the theatre knowing that you have seen the rare treat where every element of the production comes together culminating in theatre at its best.
That was the experience on the opening night of Belvoir St Theatre’s Grief is the Thing with Feathers as years of careful adaption, dynamic casting combine with creative direction and staging in bringing a small book into another life.
Adapted from the 2015 novella by English writer Max Porter, this play adapts its text and structure closely from the original as realised in three acts, played out over 100 minutes.
It concerns a writer and father of two boys grappling with a book on the poet Ted Hughes while coming to terms with the recent loss of his wife, and discovering his role in keeping the family together.
The story unfolds from the perspective of Dad, the Boys and Crow, the magical symbol of grief who takes on the role of the family philosopher and therapist.
In the first act when Crow appears as a powerful manifestation it is to recognise the overwhelming nature of grief at its rawest, and Crow is here as the navigator.
Dad, the Boys and Crow must now deal with the rollercoaster of grief that takes us on a journey through despair, hopelessness, pain to outright hilarity, until finally Crow feels that he has done his job.
Adapted from the novel by Simon Phillips, Nick Schlieper and Toby Schmitz, the script is tight and retains all the essentials of the original while presenting a truly gripping stage presentation with the added air of mystery of Crow.
As director, Simon Phillips also keeps the characters connected even when they have a divergence of emotions.
Toby Schmitz (Dad and Crow) is at the centre of the stage for most of this performance and commands every inch of it as he soars across a range of emotions and soliloquies in both roles, while remaining connected to the Boys (Philip Lynch and Fraser Morrison).
Particularly striking it the physicality with which Schmitz approached both roles, especially when Crow makes his first appearance.
No superlatives are too great for Lynch and Morrison as the Boys and how well they work with Schmitz and each other, notably in the final seaside scene where they are buffeted by the wind.
Musician and composer Freya Schack-Arnott is also listed as a cast member and she does a brilliant job of supplying a beautiful live score to the production.
Phillips is all over Grief, not only as director but also as co-designer of the set with Nick Schlieper.
Consisting of a cyclorama onto which Schlieper’s backgrounds of walls, doors and seascapes are projected, they are also the surface onto which video designer Craig Wilkinson projects illustrator Jon Weber’s brilliant Crow drawings.
The opening and closing scenes of a seashore representing the slow passage of time bookend the production. On minimal stage we have just a writer’s desk, a large chair, a lamp and two trunks that serve multiple purposes.
From a surprise hit novella, with Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Phillips, Schmitz and company have created some of the richest theatre seen in Sydney this year that deals with human nature in its frailest moments.
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills
Performance: Thursday 31 July 2025
Season continues to 24 August 2025
Information and Bookings: www.belvoir.com.au
Images: Toby Schmitz in Grief is the Thing with Feathers – photo by Brett Boardman | Fraser Morrison, Toby Schmitz and Philip Lynch in Grief is the Thing with Feathers – photo by Brett Boardman
Review: John Moyle