The Almighty Sometimes, Griffin, Stables Theatre

"Almighty Sometimes" is a play that boldly announces a strong new writing voice. Kendall Feaver is a young Australian playwright who's already found considerable success in the UK before having her first work premiere back home - which, alas, isn't necessarily as unusual as it should be. The setup is simple - a young woman has been medicated for mental illness since she was eight. Now, at eighteen, emerging into adulthood, she starts to wonder who she really is underneath the medication, and starts skipping doses. As the fallout affects her, her mother, her shrink and her new possible boyfriend, the tangled world of mental health gets increasingly precarious.

I can't imagine this being done better - it's taken me way too long to realise just how good director Lee Lewis is at the simple nuts-and-bolts of keeping a production ever-flowing and perfectly judged to make every bit of impact it can make. And there's a powerhouse quartet in the middle too - Brenna Harding makes our protagonist equal parts understandable and deeply concerning, Hannah Waterman makes her mum both adorable and frustrating, Shiv Pakelar as the potential boyfriend has a generous openness about him - kind, gentle but also passionate. Penny Cook as the shrink has the role that is a little tricky - the shrink very much keeps her professional distance, which can lead to her coming off as cold, but it's still clear how difficult she finds keeping the boundaries clear.

This is the kind of stuff I go to Griffin for - new voices given their best possible production in an intimate and heartfelt production. Well worth seeing.