State Theatre Company's Commentary dismantles the art of self-serving memory

All Production Images Credit: Matt Byrne

Review by Markus Hamence – State Theatre Company South Australia's 'Commentary'. Performance date: Tuesday 25 August 2026. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, South Australia.

There’s actually something brilliantly uncomfortable and awkward about Ash Flanders’ Commentary. Sharp, provocative and wickedly funny, State Theatre Company South Australia’s production, directed by Petra Kalive, takes a scalpel to ego, memory, accountability and our remarkable ability to rewrite the past until we’re comfortable with our own version of it.

At the centre is Nick (Gyton Grantley), a filmmaker turned university lecturer whose controversial debut film Low is suddenly back in the spotlight. With his former collaborator Hamish disgraced and presumed dead, Nick is asked to record a director’s commentary for a retrospective screening. What initially feels like an opportunity to revisit an important moment in his career quickly becomes something considerably more complicated as old relationships, allegations and uncomfortable truths begin pushing their way back into the room.

Grantley is excellent, in-fact, perfection in this role, balancing Nick’s charm, defensiveness and self-preservation beautifully. He never presents him as an obvious villain, which makes the performance considerably more interesting. Nick is likeable enough that we want to listen, yet as his recollections are challenged, we begin questioning how much is genuine memory and how much has been conveniently edited over the years.

“Sharp, provocative and wickedly funny, Commentary knows exactly when to make us laugh - and when to make that laughter feel uncomfortable.” Markus Hamence

Around him, Anna Steen as Mish and Anna, Kate Cheel as Saskia and Clea and Shardae Santos as Gen and Frankie gradually challenge Nick’s ownership of the story. Each brings a different perspective, energy and emotional weight to proceedings, with Santos particularly impressive moving between two distinct characters. Together, they remind us that one event can have very different versions depending on who is holding the microphone. The women of Commentary are absolutely central to its power, make no mistake, each bringing a completely different energy to the stage, gradually cutting through Nick’s carefully constructed version of events. Steen delivers beautifully controlled frustration and emotional depth, Cheel brings intelligence, strength and plenty of bite, while Santos is particularly impressive shifting between two distinct characters with confidence and clarity. Together, they don’t simply support the story - they challenge it, reshape it and ultimately force us to question exactly whose version of the truth we’ve been listening to.

Kalive keeps the production moving with a slick, almost cinematic rhythm, while Matilda Woodroofe’s set and costume design, Dan Thorpe’s sound and video, and Nic Mollison’s lighting and projections cleverly blur the worlds of theatre and filmmaking. Screens, cameras and recorded images reinforce the idea that what we see - and what we believe - can depend entirely on who is framing the shot. The aesthetic constantly reminds us that everything can be framed, edited and presented from a particular point of view. It’s clever without being distracting, visually sharp and completely connected to what the play is trying to say. The space feels part film studio, part editing suite and part interrogation room, creating the perfect environment for a story obsessed with memory, perspective and who gets to control the narrative. Bravo to the talented team.

“Clever, contemporary and beautifully performed, Commentary proves there are always two sides to a story - and sometimes considerably more.” Markus Hamence

What 100% makes Commentary work so well is its humour. Flanders allows us to freaking laugh at artistic egos, excuses and the ridiculous ways people attempt to protect themselves before slowly making those laughs considerably more squirm-ish and harder to swallow (quite literally at the end). Beneath the comedy are big questions about power, artistic responsibility, complicity, cancel culture and whether we can ever truly separate the art from the artist.

And importantly, it doesn’t package everything into a neat answer before sending us home. It leaves us to decide what we believe, who we believe and how much responsibility belongs to those who stood nearby and perhaps chose not to look too closely.

Markus' Wrap Up: State Theatre Company South Australia’s Commentary is smart, wickedly funny and brilliantly uncomfortable theatre that digs into memory, power and accountability without ever handing us the easy answer. It leaves us questioning not only whose version of the story we believe, but how easily the past can be edited when the person telling it controls the microphone. Clever and very intelligent theatre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Commentary by Ash Flanders
Director: Petra Kalive
Cast: Gyton Grantley, Shardae Santos, Anna Steen, Kate Cheel (and Ruby Patrich - the girl in the video)
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
21 July - 5 September
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Above image: The cast, opening night bows (Photo: Markus)