Review: THE ALMIGHTY SOMETIMES at Star Theatres

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 29th May 2026.

Independent Theatre is presenting The Almighty Sometimes, written by UK-based Australian expatriate, Kendall Feaver, and directed by Rob Croser. It is everything that we have come to expect from this company: excellence in direction, casting, performances, set design, and more. This play was the winner of the Judge's Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. The title refers to the long list of questions that the carer is asked to complete by answering always, never, or sometimes, to behaviours exhibited by the person under psychiatric treatment.

Anna, who has just turned eighteen and left school, has spent a decade of her life on a concoction of medications after being diagnosed with a mental illness as a child, bipolar disorder, after she left detailed instructions giving all of her toys to her friends and leapt out of the window. It followed the death of the father with whom she had had a close relationship. Having tried other avenues, her mother, Renee, consulted a research psychiatrist.

Now, finding some notebooks full of very creative, but strangely dark stories that she wrote before being prescribed the medication, Anna wonders if her imagination and ability to write is still there if she stops taking her pills, what else she might be capable of doing, and who she really is if not medicated, but her mother tries to keep the status quo, worrying that Anna’s behaviour will revert to an unstable condition without medication.

With her coming of age, Renee can no longer make decisions for the health of Anna, who decides to stop taking her medication, starting a downward spiral. Trying to find a balance between them is Vivienne, Anna’s psychiatrist, weighing Anna’s desires against the risk of her losing control again without her pills. There is also Anna’s new boyfriend, 21-year-old apprentice locksmith, Oliver, who hides his own problems with his home life, and is dragged into the situation as Renee goes to and fro between him and Vivienne in an attempt to recruit them to her cause and manipulate them into controlling Anna, as Anna goes through drastic changes.

There is a continual push and pull between the four characters, and the audience is driven to change allegiances as the play moves forward and the actions, reactions, and motivations appear to change.

Anna is played by Mia Livingston-Pearce in a sensational performance, ranging from the quiet young woman under the control of the medication, to the manic episodes without them in which she delivers her lines at breakneck speed. Her performance is riveting in a role that drastically changes emotional states by the minute. It is almost like playing a dozen different characters.

Lyn Wilson plays her mother, Renee, adding yet another to her long line of impressive performances, many of them with this company. She never gives less than her all, and this performance is one of her very best in role that requires great sensitivity. She gives a wonderful picture of a woman losing control of a daughter’s life and trying to cope with the consequences.

Naomi Voortman portrays Vivienne, who is carefully trying to tread the narrow line between professional detachment and fondness for the girl whom she has been treating for a decade. Voortman gives a nicely controlled portrayal of the medical professional, while allowing the occasional glimpse of her false denial of a personal involvement.

Oliver is played by a newcomer to the company, Johnathon Montgomery, a Year 12 student who has only just turned eighteen. Rob Croser continually discovers exciting new talent, and he has done it again. Montgomery is marvellous as the young man already burdened with his own obligations, gradually realising that Renee is expecting him to take on more.

The cleverly designed set is by Croser and David Roach, with sections that open and close, using only a table, four chairs, and a bed as furniture for the family home, Vivienne’s office, and hospitals. Roach was also the stage manager, with the cast assisting him with set changes, everything running very smoothly, and aided by Luke Bartholomew’s lighting design.

The play covers many topics, from mental health, to the difficulty of diagnosis and treatment, to the effects and side effects of medication, to the ethics of medicating children, to the relationships of a person with mental illness and those around them, and much more. It raises a swathe of thought-provoking questions for the audience to take with them after the applause and cheering has ended.

Do not miss this wonderfully moving and intellectually stimulating production. Hurry to book tickets as it only runs until next weekend.

Photography, Nik Long.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Touring Production - Top 3

1. Hadestown

11.1% of votes

2. Hamilton

8.6% of votes

3. Les Misérables

8.6% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats