This show exposes the deep emotional life of one boy growing up in Australia. It’s surprising for its lack of social media and scattiness. It’s a deeply felt play delivered by the author in a sensitive and fluent monologue.

Thomas Weatherall brings us his stories of life and loss, encouraging us to journey with him to the core of his being.

Beautifully written and performed by Thomas, and directed by Deborah Brown, with a stage setting that both supported the actor and entranced the audience, “Blue” is a play for the ages.

Mark, the main character in the story is in a share house, enjoying the sexy and cool housemate and her rituals. He plays sou chef to her as she keeps the music of Lou Reed and other greats in the kitchen as she cooks. We learn of his leaving home, parting from his much-loved mother who, at all times, remains an individual with her own life.

As Mark works his way through the grief of loss within his family, he is also able to provide a very catchy analogy of intimate relationships. If I were he, I’d make it into a separate booklet and sell as merchandise – The Flame of Relationships.

Mark grows up in a loving home with a bigger brother, a mother and father. He makes meaning about his place in the family and the world that both supports and undermines his well-being. As we all do. But life wasn’t linear, and grief came, his father left and he and his mother clung to each other through writing letters. The letters form a poignant part of the play. I suspect the play will encourage letter writing among many who attend.

It is a deep, and literary play. It explores moments that are banal, yet profoundly moving. A telephone call, the smell of rain, a funeral. The audience was mainly under thirty and the room was captured by the tale, fully engaged with the experiences that life brings, not to everyone so young as Mark, but nevertheless eventually.

Deborah Brown brought the flow of the piece together in a way that mined our emotions.

Jacob Nash and Chloe Oglivie worked together to bring the backdrop of the sea, sky and the earth to Mark’s story. It matched his tales perfectly and was, of itself, a thing of beauty.

Thomas Weatherall is to be commended for his play, his performance and his ability to visit so frequently such difficult emotions.

On at La Boite until 1 st June. Book at https://laboite.com.au/shows/blue

Kerry McGovern