Primary Trust at Ensemble Theatre: Review

The Pulitzer Prize is, in literary terms, a pretty big deal. On the one hand, a drama winning the Pulitzer Prize means it’s been highly esteemed as one of the most incisive and compelling pieces of theatre this year - but it also means any actors taking on this show as their own have a fairly high standard to meet.

I walked out of Primary Trust absolutely shocked that my already high expectations, then, were blown out of the water.

Darren Yap (Director) takes the source material and manages to make it faithful but unique - showcasing both why the show won the Pulitzer to begin with, and also why he was such a good pick for taking on the Australian run of this show.

There’s something very compelling about the performances here - very relatable on a level that Australians would understand, despite the play originally set to capture contemporary relationships in New York.

I think this speaks to the universality of Eboni Booth’s (the original playwright) work, but in this regard, the play also owes a huge debt to Yap and the two central actors of the show, Charles Allen and Albert Mwangi.

Allen and Mwangi make this play human, they make it habitable for the audience’s own thoughts and ideas as we watch Kenneth, who just wanted to eek out a peaceable living as a bookseller, have his entire world thrown into disarray.

Maybe that’s part of the relatability, too, with such a universal concept as “plans being upset” taking centre stage in the show, but it really can’t be undersold how much depth and humanity the cast brings to this plot.

If you’re someone who thinks award winning drama means pretentiousness and monologues, then this is the play that will set you right. It’s frank, it’s candid, and coming from such a high pedigree, the director and cast made this play shine in such a unique way.

Primary Trust Plays until the 12th July. Grab Tickets Here.