★★★★☆ A fascinating exposition of White’s mighty love story set in a quirky world where opposites attract.

Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
October 14, 2015

Suspended somewhere between lighting designer Nigel Levings’ canvas “sky”, and set and costume designer Michael Hankin’s burnt turf, the Zephyr Quartet, grounded like compass points, play pizzicato. We sit in the round, awaiting Patrick White’s polarised characters. A mound of logs is the focal point of the barren setting and the spicy aroma of dry grass threatens hay fever. The severely asthmatic White may be turning in his 25-year cold grave.

Incoming audience footfalls drive intermittent wafts of eucalyptus skyward, as leaves are crushed. It doesn’t get any more Australian than this bush scene; the small town home of the Whalley and Hogben families. They are about to reveal the adage about choosing relatives, applies also to neighbours. Theirs is the domain of the longneck, wife-beater singlets, outings to the local dump and today, a funeral.

Kris McQuade announces the commencement of The Aspirations of Daise Morrow; her words like a warm hug herald it’s on for young and old. The fast pace in the vast space requires high concentration, but the rewards are immense. Under...