Review: POV - ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026 at Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 4th March 2026.

An eleven-year-old named Bub has a camera and takes documentary POV, point-of-view, videos. We see her in action, as a child talks with two adults about mental health. With a text by Mark Rogers, and direction by Soloman Thomas, re:group performance collective brings this work to the Adelaide Festival.

Bub was portrayed on the night by 12-year-old Yuna Ahn (Grace Tione appears in alternate performances) and the two unrehearsed and unsuspecting local actors who found themselves playing Dad, Michael, and Mum, Penny, were Hew Parham and James Smith. Dad is a microbiologist who listens to Icelandic post-rock and paints his Warhammer figurines. Mum calls him a nerd. She is preparing for an important exhibition of her ceramic art. She is always tired. She is bipolar.

Ahn first introduces the two actors, takes a Polaroid photo of them, and explains the components of a documentary, which Bub will employ during the performance. The two actors have to immediately create their characters, read lines from supplied texts, and improvise some parts. Given instructions to research relevant topics before the performance, they are also interviewed as themselves during the performance.

It is almost the “actor’s nightmare” brought to life; finding oneself on stage, not knowing the play, the lines, and expected to perform. Ahn guides them through the performance, acting as the director as well as the central character, handing them scripts for some scenes, and with lines fed to them through headphones for others. This is high risk theatre.

The camera is initially mounted on a tripod and set on rails running across downstage. Two chairs, two boxes of miscellaneous items and, later, an inflatable bed, complete the minimal staging, with a number of screens displaying what the camera records.

Bub is regularly shooting segments of video of her parents but hasn’t yet decided on a topic for her documentary. She goes to her thinking place (see the performance to find out) and eventually decides on a theme. Trying to interview her mother, however, becomes an obstacle, until Mum shares too much. Bub writes to German filmmaker, Werner Herzog, seeking advice. He replies, giving the actors an opportunity to employ a German accent.

Although it doesn’t entirely vanish, the humour of the early part of the performance gradually fades, as it takes on a more serious and poignant tone as Penny’s bipolar disorder becomes increasingly apparent, moving out, and taking to her bed. The moving interaction, over a repeated scene with variations, was a masterful idea.

There is much in this wonderful work that would be spoiled by too much description. It is something that needs to be experienced to appreciate it. Suffice to say that Ahn shows a maturity beyond her years, and the two actors did a magnificent job of portraying several characters apiece, responding to the scripts and situations with consummate skill. There are still opportunities to catch this production, but don’t delay. Word is already spreading quickly.

Photography, Andrew Beveridge.

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