Adding to the extraordinary output of new works throughout its 21-year history, Victorian Opera’s latest commission – the world premiere of composer Jane Hammond and librettist Therèsa Borg’s adaptation of Helen Garner’s 2008 novel The Spare Room – is the company’s 39th new work.
“Did you know we are all going to …” are its opening words, voiced by the child Bessie, with the expected word “die” omitted – perhaps alluding to a cultural aversion to talking about death.
Opera, however, has never shied away from mortality. Here, Hammond and Borg’s work embraces that tradition without being a regurgitated facsimile of operatic storytelling.
Deftly directed to balance lighter relief with the seriousness of the story by Sarah Goodes in her opera debut, and set within a gently symbolic visual setting, the production features two excellent leads – Natalie Jones as Helen and Antoinette Halloran as Nicola – both of whom embody their roles while setting alight their ideological polarity.
Revolving around the Melbourne home of Helen as she provides care for her long-time Sydney-based friend Nicola, who has stage 4 cancer, the story’s two acts centre on a friendship tested by one’s refusal to accept the terminal nature of her illness and desperate faith in questionable alternative treatments, and the other’s growing frustrations with those treatments and the expectations placed on her as a carer.
It is a complex dynamic that is addressed with admirable sensitivity and tempered with patches of humour in Borg’s plain-spoken, even expletive-appropriate libretto. Various references to the quack Dr Theodore as a prick, wanker and arsehole hit the mark, and while the demanding daily reality is sprinkled with a little of the ethereal, the more rewarding moments are found in the second act, where greater tension is developed.
Nicola’s openness in revealing her sense of failure to Helen, Helen’s confrontation with Dr Theodore over his “reportable” practices, and her subsequent blow-up with Nicola – together with imagining herself literally driving Nicola to death at the wheel of her car in a thrillingly staged fashion – are superbly structured for opera.
It is at these points – and over the second act’s 40 minutes – that Hammond’s generally vibrant and eclectic score makes its most compelling case as opera that generates ineffable emotional impact. On the other hand, as much as clarity and interest are brought to the hour-long first act, it can feel like a good play accompanied by characterful music – often amusingly onomatopoeic – that largely only colours in the outlines.
Hammond utilises the familiar instruments of a chamber orchestra – violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, etc. – but it is the percussive assortment and seemingly ever-present ukulele that leave their imprint. At Wednesday’s premiere, the score’s intricacies bloomed under Phoebe Briggs leadership of the hand-picked 13-member Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra.
The ukulele? It turns out that Nicola regrets not having her ukulele with her, yet its charming strums provide warm relief around her via a quartet of characters who take on a variety of roles, with a further one played in the pit.
Jones is remarkable in conveying the contrast between a caring nature and percolating anger that besets Nicola’s compromised circumstances. Her soprano is rich and resolute, while her frequent smug “if-you-say-so” facial expressions are character gold. Importantly, in Jones’ performance, sympathy for Nicola’s predicament is palpable; if anything could have prevented the eventual explosiveness, it may have been simply how she communicates her feelings.
Velvety-soprano Halloran is equally powerful as the rather airy-fairy Nicola, whose vitamin C drips, ozone saunas and organic coffee enemas become a great source of comic mullock. Halloran also nails Nicola’s seeming obliviousness to Helen’s needs – giving a juicer to her as a birthday gift to fucking squeeze oranges for her treatment seems rather self-absorbed!
Adrian Tamburini adapts his resonant smoky baritone with assurance to the pompous charlatan Dr Theodore, as well as several other small roles as the doctor’s assistants and Helen’s brother.
The remaining cast of Emily Bauer-Jones, Carrie Barr and Rachael Joyce dot the work neatly with strong performances as surrounding characters, whether singing as a harmonious unit or riding bicycles.
And as Bessie, a peculiarly large part for a wise little girl who loves flamenco and bridges both the real and magical – though not exactly made as clear as it deserves to be – young Scarlett Sheludko (who shares the role with Juliette Tancredi) brings energetic heart.
Significant to the production’s theatrical cohesion is Harriet Oxley’s set design, which blends abstracted domesticity with clinical minimalism. A large marble-like block rests on a central, diagonally-placed square platform, surrounded by a see-through sheathed curtain that forms “the spare room”.
The block acts as Nicola’s king-size bed while many changes of “Manchester” tell of her abnormal sweats and soiling. There is something of a sacrificial quality to its design that adds to the effect. And then the brilliance of its intent is revealed when Helen’s tended flower garden lying outside the cube eventually forms a floral tribute to Nicola, with the block becoming symbolic of her grave.
Oxley’s costume designs have an everyday contemporary aesthetic. Nicola’s whimsy, for example, is reflected in bohemian, breezy patterned cuts and Helen’s working role in plain, casual but uniform-like carer attire. Theatricality is enhanced by Paul Jackson’s subtle, often crystalline lighting effects and the spare use of projections by Rhian Hinkley of wooded or aqueous backgrounds.
The Spare Room approaches the difficult circumstances of facing mortality and the impact on loved ones with moments of genuine depth, perhaps not as much as the themes it explores demand. Nevertheless, its ability to bring humour and encounter magic along the way provides an affecting counterbalance.
The Spare Room
Playhouse – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Performance: Wednesday 7 October 2026
Season continues to 10 October 2026
Information and Bookings: www.victorianopera.com.au
Images: Natalie Jones and Antoinette Halloran in The Spare Room – photo by Jeff Busby | The Company of The Spare Room – photo by Jeff Busby | The Company of The Spare Room – photo by Jeff Busby | Natalie Jones and Antoinette Halloran in The Spare Room – photo by Jeff Busby | The Company of The Spare Room – photo by Jeff Busby
Review: Paul Selar