The Phase centres around Rowan, Aziza, Sage, and Ava, the four are best friends and bandmates. It’s 2014, the four 15-year-olds attend an all-girls catholic school, and three of the four are gay – Ava is the token straight friend (I mean ally). The show takes us on the journey of discovering who we are, and how to express ourselves in an oppressive environment. It portrays the struggles of navigating a heterosexual and binary world, whilst never being taught anything useful about sexuality or gender, making it almost impossible to find where you fit in.

The band are onstage dressed as crayons, pointy tip hats and all, as the cast enters the stage also dressed in colourful outfits, in the form of blazers, a campy school uniform.

The set design is simple, as expected in a fringe production, yet it still perfectly encapsulates a classroom, with cardboard cutouts of stationary placed on the wall, which are turned over to display the setting or used by the cast as musical instruments. It’s both inventive and effective.

Meg McGrady’s score is upbeat and lively at times and filled with emotion at others. The score aptly captures the effects growing up in a restrictive environment can have on a person. The more slowed-down numbers performed by Ashley Goh are full of emotion and urgency, they ensure the audience listens to every word and comprehends just how vital these issues are. Each performer proves a strong vocalist, but the standout is Jocasta Almgill, who delivers some stunning vocals.

One number in which Goh and Almgill’s characters argue would work better in a spoken word style, such as rap – this would increase the song’s ability to make an impact, and deliver an emotional punch to the gut.

There were some sound issues, these particularly affected Holly Ryan. Although her voice is wonderful, some lines and lyrics were lost in delivery, slightly muffled and inaudible to the audience. But she truly shined when portraying Sage having a panic attack, an incredibly realistic enactment which caused me to hold my breath as Ryan gasped for hers.

The Phase is an important story to tell, the show has a heart of gold, and it’s easy to adore the characters on stage, and see yourself within them. Some polishing is required and I’d love to see the show with a more fleshed-out script, plus some improvements to the choreography. But this show perfectly displays the after-effects of Section 28, how there is still work to be done with regard to how our country teaches sex education, and the need for it to be inclusive of all sexualities and gender identity.

This show is funny, vocally stunning, and incredibly relevant – I’m very excited to see the next phase of The Phase.

Furthermore, I applaud the show’s efforts to make their show incredibly accessible and inclusive, I hope they continue this as the stages they perform on, no doubt increase in size.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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