There are many plays about unlikely human connections. People who you would feel have nothing in common, find something that brings them together. A favourite play with this theme is an old American play, Lewis John Carlino’s 1963 play, Sarah and the Sax, which I saw many years ago at the warm, intimate Lookout Theatre in Woollahra, sadly a venue has long gone.
Carlino’s play was a two hander, featuring an elderly, jewish lady, Sarah Nodelman, and a young Black street musician, simply known as the Sax, who meet one afternoon in Central Park.
Sarah is doing some knitting on a park bench when the Sax joins her. Sarah starts up a conversation with the Sax expressing little interest. He sees her as being too straight, too bourgeois. He thinks, how could she possibly understand an outsider like? He just riffs away at his saxophone.
Sarah asks if he would like to join her for dinner. She will make him a warm meal. He declines with loud, angry riffs. In a final attempt to reach him, Sarah tells him how sad her life has become since she lost her beloved son Herbie who died in the Korean War.
Finally, Sarah breaks through the Sax’s defiant armour and the play ends with the Sax playing a tender, poetic melody, just composed for her.
Australian playwright Lally Katz’s play NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH features an elderly female Jewish protagonist, this time reaching out to a dreamy young Australian woman Catherine who is hoping to kickstart an acting career.
With her grumpy, petulant attitude Ana doesn’t endear herself to people very much. Nor does she try. There’s a Serbian neighbour who is always wanting to have a coffee and chat with her, which Ana always declines.
Ana notices a neighbour, a young Australian woman, Catherine with a anxious, nervy disposition. She is drawn to something about her, perhaps a similar disquiet, melancholia. They start chatting, and Ana warms to her. Perhaps they might just be able to heal each other.
.
Kathryn Thomas and Christopher O’Shea’s production brings out the play’s lyricism.
In her stage debut, Miriam Fagueret gives a touching performance aa Ana. With her delicate features, Isobel Rabbidge gives an equally delicate and sensitive performance as Catherine who learns much from her elderly friend.
Christopher O’Shea gives a fetching performance as Catherine’s flatmate, Ken, a quirky character who spends his time playing video games whilst dealing with the difficulties of being an insulin dependent diabetic, and at the sam time believing that he will become the next great filmmaker.
Jack Stout plays Catherine’s on and off, self involved boyfriend, Martin, annoyingly well.
Stout joined a fine ensemble including Caitlin Clancy, Penny Day, Gabriel Jab’bar and Luca Savini in playing a very colourful group of ‘side’ characters who come and go through the action. Theatrical and comical, in many aspects, this play certainly was!
Production values were good. The basic set featured stage right Ana’s kitchen and kitchen table and stage left was Catherine and Ken’s lounge room. Technical manager was by Byron Rowley, and lighting and sound design managed by the two directors.
This Lally Katz play has been on the HSC syllabus for a long time now, and as well as the general public coming through, many student groups are also expected.
A Lane Cove Theatre Company production, Lally Katz’s NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH is playing the Pottery Lane Performance Space until Sunday 31 May 2026.
Performance times are listed on the company’s website.
http://www.lanecovertheatrecompany.com.au
