Review: Brace Brace

**Picture:** *Brace Brace promotional Image (NOT A CREATIVE FUTURES PHOTOGRAPHY IMAGE. Credit: Images By Anderson)*

Oli Forsyth’s Brace Brace is a rollercoaster of a play—moving quickly from initial glances across a crowded room, through to marriage and travel to an idyllic honeymoon, before the ‘Brace Brace’ incident and its aftermath. Promoted as ‘a raw, fast-paced and deeply human exploration of love, survival, and what happens when ordinary lives collide with extraordinary events,’ Brace Brace is a tense, emotionally charged examination of ‘how do you move forward when the moment that changed everything refuses to let go?’

Brace Brace is another brave and successful PIP Theatre production, thanks to Deidre Grace’s impressive direction of the show, and collaboration with the cast and fellow creatives. Everyone more than pulls their weight and makes a significant contribution to the work.

The standout performance of the show is by Amelia Slatter (Sylvia), but Henry Solomon (Ray) and Matthew Filkins (The Man) are strong supporting actors. Although cast as ‘The Man,’ Filkins performs as several men in Brace Brace—from the smarmy TV presenter, through to the looming presence of The Man on the plane. If I had time to see Brace Brace again, during the rest of this short run, I’d go, as it was only during conversations after the show that I realised that the newly-weds’ interactions with Filkins frequently led to dramatic switches in tension or in the moods of Sylvia and of Ray.

Solomon’s Ray is a highly believable partner, wannabe comic, and school teacher—and a marvellous, challenging, concerned, conflicted, counterpoint to Slatter’s Sylvia. The realism of the ways in which the couple retell and revisit their experiences, often talking across each other, is a delight.

I love Slatter’s performance as Sylvia—at times funny, passionate, intense, nurturing, impulsive, fearful, fierce and powerful. The first 20 minutes of the show are particularly special, with moments of intimacy that really communicate Sylvia and Ray’s ‘first love’ passion and connection, and the sheer joy of being alive—all of which I am sure benefits from Solomon and Slatter’s work with Grace, and with the talented Heidi Gledhill (Intimacy Director). There is so much more to add about Slater’s performance, but that would require several spoilers.

This paragraph, however, does include a spoiler… so do skip over it if you are yet to see the play…. The art of the playwright is often at its best when introducing a plot device that requires a slight suspension of reality—Forsyth’s lovely line ‘that sounds far-fetched’ perhaps signalling the use of such a device to the audience? Accepting that a hijacker might be released shortly post-arrest, and that most of the surviving passengers (and their friends and families) might be at peace with that decision, is not likely to be something that would happen in today’s Australia. But it’s a fine MacGuffin, allowing the writer to explore the different ways in which individuals process events at varying speeds.

Freddy Komp’s sound design and composition is spot on throughout. The walk in music is perfect (of course including Angus and Julia Stone’s Big Jet Plane), but it’s those ‘little’ touches—such as the early background rumble to establish the experience of travelling by air—that really demonstrate the skill of the sound designer and composer. And the staging and set design is impressive in its apparent simplicity and effectiveness, thanks to the excellent set design by Bill Haycock, and lighting design by Geoff Squires. We all marvelled at the ease with which the actors moved in and around the space, switching between the ground and promenade ‘runway’ stage, with cleverly-blocked moments that include Ray’s looking up at the onstage Man and Sylvia. Grace’s direction ensures that the set is simply transformed into the narrow aircraft, bedroom, TV studio and more—and that audiences on either side of the promenade feel connected with, and close to, the action.

Congratulations also to Jenna Todd (Marketing Director) and the creative minds behind the Brace Brace print program, which is surely a contender for the Behind The Scenes Award; or perhaps there needs to be a new Matilda Award category for best program design? Go along to the final performances of this latest PIP Theatre production to pick up your ‘safety card’ from the auditorium, and see what you think of this show. Be ready to accept the MacGuffin for what it is, and enjoy a fantastic PIP Theatre Production that demonstrates the talents of our local cast and creatives.

Catherine Lawrence

Audience information: Brace Brace, Main Theatre at PIP Theatre, 20 Park Road, Milton QLD 4064 (20-30 May 2026). Adult themes, coarse/strong language, sexual references, violence, loud and sudden loud sound effects, and flashing or strobe lights, use of stage blood. 16+ suggested. 80 minutes (no interval). Tickets $35-50, plus $3.30 booking fee.

Additional credits: Jason McKell (Fight Director), Hannah Page (Stage Manager). Alice Vivian, Aoife Kissane and Aimee Tacon (ASMs), Lani Robertson (Illustrator), and Kris Anderson (Brace Brace Photographer).

The reviewer attended the 28 May 2026, 7:30pm performance.

Geoff Lawrence