Red Phoenix Theatre's South Australian premiere of Arthur Wing Pinero's The Thunderbolt, directed by Libby Drake, centres on a family's competing claims to a substantial inheritance, exploring the gap between polite respectability and ruthless self-interest through an ensemble cast including Joshua Coldwell, Jessica Corrie, Anne Doherty, Michael Eustice, Akira Hockley Miric, Elisha Johnson, Steve Marvanek, Annie Matsouliadis, Katie Packer, Jai Pearce, Leighton Vogt, Malcolm Walton and Tim Williams. The production plays at Goodwood Theatre & Studios, opening 22 October 2026. Rating: 5/5.
Review by Markus Hamence – Red Phoenix Theatre's The Thunderbolt. Performance date: Thursday 22 October 2026. Goodwood Theatre and Studios, Goodwood, South Australia.
Put a sizeable inheritance on the table and watch the family manners disappear. Suddenly, everyone has a claim, everyone has a grievance, and everyone is absolutely certain they are being perfectly reasonable. Arthur Wing Pinero’s The Thunderbolt, presented by Red Phoenix Theatre at Adelaide’s Goodwood Theatre & Studios, takes that familiar family ugliness and dresses it in Edwardian respectability. Oh, the possibilities.
Directed by Libby Drake, this South Australian premiere centres on the death of a wealthy brewer whose apparently missing will leaves his siblings eyeing off a considerable fortune. They have plans. Naturally. Then his daughter enters the picture, and those comfortable assumptions begin to unravel. What follows is a battle over money, belonging and who gets to decide what somebody else deserves.
“Libby Drake takes on a delicious powder keg of family politics, where respectability and greed sit dangerously close together.” - Markus Hamence
Written in 1908, the play has a wonderfully durable target. We all know how quickly an innocent family conversation can become an unofficial hearing into something that happened twenty years ago. Add property and money, and suddenly everyone remembers every slight with extraordinary clarity. Pinero’s premise taps into that uncomfortable familiarity, where the language of fairness can conceal some thoroughly unfair intentions.
Taking on this collection of competing interests is an cream ensemble comprising Joshua Coldwell, Jessica Corrie, Anne Doherty, Michael Eustice, Akira Hockley Miric, Elisha Johnson, Steve Marvanek, Annie Matsouliadis, Katie Packer, Jai Pearce, Leighton Vogt, Malcolm Walton and Tim Williams. It is a substantial company for a story built around the messy business of people watching, judging and manoeuvring around one another.
“Red Phoenix’s ensemble takes on a family full of sharp tongues and expensive expectations, where every polite exchange has the potential to draw blood.” - Markus Hamence
For the actors, the rich territory lies in the gap between what these characters say and what they mean. A declaration of family loyalty might conceal a financial calculation. An expression of concern might carry a warning. A perfectly civil exchange might be a small act of warfare. The script offers opportunities for the ensemble to explore that delicious double language, where politeness gives people permission to be quite appalling.
A clever live set rework during act one was produced flawlessly and thoroughly enjoyable to watch as the actors and the crew shifted and re-dressed the entire stage before our eyes. Unique.
There is also a delicate balance in playing people whose behaviour invites laughter while their actions carry real consequences. Push everything towards caricature and the hurt risks disappearing; lean too heavily into the bitterness and the comedy loses its spark. These characters need enough recognisable humanity for us to see something familiar beneath their entitlement. Perhaps an uncle. Perhaps a sibling. Perhaps, on an uncomfortable day, ourselves.
Helen’s (Elisha Johnson) wish to shape her own life gives the family dispute a different perspective. While others concern themselves with what they might acquire, her independence raises a more interesting question: what does it mean to have something that is truly your own? That emotional thread gives the actors material beyond the inheritance scramble, opening up the loneliness and vulnerability that can sit beneath a family argument.
Red Phoenix’s decision to bring this lesser-seen work to Adelaide makes sense for a company committed to theatrical discovery. A century may have changed the way we dress for a family gathering, but it has done considerably less to improve our behaviour when money enters the conversation.
The fortune might belong to one man. The opinions, my darlings, belong to absolutely everybody.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cast (In order of speaking)
Annie Matsouliadis - Rose Ponting
Katie Packer - Louisa Mortimore
Anne Doherty - Ann Mortimore
Michael Eustice - James Mortimore
Joshua Coldwell - Colonel Ponting
Leighton Vogt - Thaddeus Mortimore
Steve Marvanek - Stephen Mortimore
Akira Hockley Miric - Heath / Trist
Jai Pearce - Vallance
Malcolm Walton - Elkin
Jessica Corrie - Phyllis Mortimore
Elisha Johnson - Helen
Tim Williams - Denyer
Production Team
Director - Libby Drake
Stage Manager - Jan Farr
Assistant Stage Manager - Lance Morgan
Backstage AssistantLily Watkins
PropsJan Farr
Costume DesignSharon Malujlo
Costume SupportLisa Lanzi, Moira Moore
Set Design - Kate Prescott
Lighting Design - Richard Parkhill
Lighting Assistant - Mathilde Priouret
Lighting Operator - Ruby Faith
Sound Design & Operation - Ray Trowbridge
Hair - Beck Jarratt, Heather Jones
Set Construction - Andrew Gehling, Neil Martin, Malcolm Walton, Kate Prescott
Scenic Art - Lil Daenke, Kathy McNamara
Publicity - Michael Eustice
Front of House Manager - Robby Drake
Photography - Richard Parkhill
Programme - Libby Drake
Poster Design and Artwork - Nicholas Ely
Follow Red Phoenix Theatre online
Reviews
