In her new play Shadow of Doubt, writer and director Rachel McMurray is looking at issues of family violence and coercive control. These are terms that have become even more familiar to Australians since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared domestic violence a national crisis in May last year.
Added to that, Australian journalist Jess Hill’s 2019 investigative documentary series and book See What You Made Me Do has done a lot to bring the issue into the spotlight. (Incidentally, Hill has also just published a follow-up Quarterly Essay on the subject where she argues there is still much urgent work to do.)
In essence, it seems undeniable that, in 2025, no one in our society is blind to the issue of domestic violence as a challenge we are yet to overcome.
Yet, for all our collective awareness, we rarely have the chance to feel ‘inside’ someone’s personal experience of relationship breakdown where violence and abuse play a disturbing role.
But this is exactly what McMurray is offering in Shadow of a Doubt.
As we meet the play’s characters, Heather (played by Lainey O’Sullivan) and David (Nathaniel Langworthy), they are on their first date, and things are going fine. In fact, things are better than fine. In David’s words, they have the potential to be spectacular.
For these two actors, this play needs enormous stamina, and the ability to execute precisely placed movement and dialogue over the course of 75 minutes without let-up or pause. Both actors are up to the task and deliver excellent performances where they keep us embroiled in their story from start to finish.
While the script gives both characters nice room to develop, there are also some lines that present aspects of their personalities in too obvious ways. (Is there any point repeating lines like, “you are strong and independent”, when those qualities are clearly evident in the character’s actions?).
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But on the flip side, the script allows for sophisticated plot development, and the story’s subtle arcs and flows are what mark it out as a captivating work that is definitely worth seeing.
While it’s clichéd to say that good theatre ‘sparks conversation’ and offers something to talk about with friends after the show, in this case, that sentiment is totally true and doesn’t feel clichéd at all.
The conversations this reviewer had in the foyer after seeing this work, and the questions that are still swirling about its story, are a testament to McMurray’s writing and direction (efforts assisted in this season by Chris Isaacs as dramaturg and Joel Jackson as director’s attachment).
The other exceptional elements in this show are its staging, set and lighting design. Jake Pitcher’s minimalist multi-levelled set gives Heather and David’s loaded interplays new layers of meaning, while McMurray’s choice of traverse seating works brilliantly with Mick Rippon’s lighting design to, at times, position the audience as a jury cross-examining the couple’s version of events. In certain scenes it was difficult not to be absorbed by the faces of audience members seated across the stage to try to gauge their feelings about the actions on stage.
Overall, this is a work with great potential for further development. That said, as it is, the creative team has delivered a polished work that draws us close to the actions of two individuals as their relationship pulses with the complicated effects of feelings of love, shame, guilt and attachment.
Shadow of Doubt, presented by Fine Comb Theatre
Writer and Director: Rachel McMurray
Dramaturg:- Chris Isaacs
Lighting Designer: Mick Rippon
Composer and Sound Designer: Rebecca Riggs-Bennett
Set and Costume Designer: Jake Pitcher
Stage Manager: Shannen Moulton
Associate Producer: Amy Fortnum
Director’s Attachment: Joel Jackson
Casting Associate: Chantelle Iemma
Intimacy Mentor: Molly Tipping
Performers: Lainey O’Sullivan, Nathaniel Langworthy
Tickets: $27-$32
Shadow of Doubt runs until 3 May at The Blue Room Theatre. 53 James Street, Northbridge WA/
