Brisbane review – Pramkicker: theatre at its absolute best.

By David Wilson

Pramkicker

Written by Sadie Hasler

Co-directed by Nerida Matthaei and Amy Ingram

Presented by Mo Theatre

Door 3, Queensland Theatre

Diane Cilento Studio

Until 7 June 2025

https://queenslandtheatre.com.au/plays/pramkicker

All tickets are $39

Image by Morgan Roberts

Mo Theatre’s production of Pramkicker is raw, real, moving, challenging, confronting, compelling, thought-provoking and absolutely hilarious - theatre at its best!

The Door 3 initiative of Queensland Theatre is an entry-point for Queensland based theatre collectives to stage bold and blistering independent works in the intimate Diane Cilento Studio. And if Pramkicker is anything to go by, the initiative will be a rousing success.

Pramkicker is a brilliantly written, uniquely framed insight into the very real yet every-day struggles faced by women in an often child-centric society, asking questions that go to the very heart of society’s expectations of a woman’s identity and worth. The play is cleverly set within a court-ordered anger management session attended by two sisters after one loses the plot at a group of passive-aggressive yummy-mummies and kicks a pram. The audience is effectively part of the anger management session from the outset, and is quickly immersed in the dynamic roller coaster of emotions that unfolds around them.

Pramkicker covers a lot of ground in its 75 minutes without interval, with fast paced dialogue and frantic, high energy delivery balanced wonderfully by moving, tender moments. It is a brilliantly powerful study of gendered questions including the expectations of women, and by women, including a woman’s worth, role and purpose, reproductive rights and decisions, relationships, motherhood and sisterhood. While it traverses very heavy themes including sexual assault, pregnancy, abortion, drug and alcohol use, it does so with such a healthy dose of irreverence and genuine humour that it hits the mark as a brilliantly sharp and insightful comedy.

The overall effect achieved by the wonderful co-directors Amy Ingram and Nerida Matthaei was perfectly on point and evident in the very tight opening night performance. The deceptively simple set was perfectly conceived by Ada Lukin, with sound and lighting by Brady Watkins and Christine Felmingham so good that it essentially acted as a third character.

With all that said, the stage totally belonged to Sarah Ann McLeod (Jude) and Sarah Ogden (Susie) who were both absolutely brilliant. It was wonderful to see both give themselves so fully to their roles with such confident abandon. These are powerhouse performances, without doubt befitting the extremely sharp script, and a genuine joy to experience. While each was wonderful individually, it was the development and reveal of their nuanced on-stage relationship that really brought the magic. And with their impressive ability to shift between characters and between the full range of emotions so quickly, from aggression, to heart-wrenching, to bewildered, to despair, to defiant, to almost-but-not-quite-beaten, this really is an acting masterclass by both.

Do yourself a favour and see Mo Theatre’s production of Pramkicker - this is theatre at its absolute best.

Tickets can be purchased now for $39. Season runs until 7 June 2025 at Diane Client Studio. Enjoy.