Theatre

Fringe review: Ripe

Two lost women forge an unlikely friendship on Sydney’s chaotic New Year’s Eve. ★★★★

Mar 09, 2026, updated Mar 09, 2026

It’s one of those nights. Endless, yet over in the blink of an eye. Chaotic, filled up with folk on the edges, boozy, druggy, crazy, wild. Dangerous. Yet somehow Elisabeth and Claire find each other on the teeming Sydney streets on New Year’s Eve. Claire is young, naïve, tied up in a relationship she does not yet understand. She’s had a vicious fight with her mother and is roaming the streets trying to get hold of Uncle Duncan, her “boyfriend”. Elisabeth is streetwise, furious at the world and everyone in it, trapped in a relationship with a once-sweet boy who is now a raging mess of a drug-addled man. Both are filled with demons, yet they strike up a friendship that might just save them both.

Nicole Plüss’ script is a thing of beauty, an unflinching look at the power of patriarchy on two very different young women. When they are helped by a family of strangers, Elisabeth is quick to point out it’s because Claire is a “nice girl”. She urges Claire to call her mum; you wonder why Elisabeth has no one. Elisabeth spouts tough-sounding one-liners, armour that sweet, shy Claire manages to pierce. It all feels entirely natural; as a study of character and the transformational power of female friendship, you’ll be hard-pushed to find better. And Chrissy Miller and Brittany Ferry are more than up to the task set for them, turning in nuanced, distinctive performances that are a delight to watch. They’re slightly hampered by some of the direction, which too often places them physically facing out to the audience rather than to each other, but armed only with a couple of props and a bit of wardrobe, together they build a believable world and a believable relationship. “Keep seeing indie theatre,” they declare after the bows. When it’s this good, it’s really, really hard to argue with them.