As his 50th anniversary as a playwright approached, David Williamson decided the time had come to retire – an announcement he made last year. And so it is that his half century writing for the stage coincides with his final new plays. He’s going out with quite a bang with two new comedies currently running in Sydney, and a revival of Emerald City, co-produced by Queensland Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company, playing in Brisbane.

The angry, powerful Family Values, which opened at Griffin Theatre Company in January, is playing to packed houses. Now comes his very last new play: Crunch Time, which is having its premiere season at the Ensemble Theatre.

Crunch Time combines two themes: sibling rivalry and voluntary assisted dying. The latter is the more interesting strand of the play, but it feels like a sidebar in the first act, before finding more dramatic focus after the interval.

Diane Craig and John Wood. Photograph © Prudence Upton

The two siblings are the cocksure Jimmy (Matt Minto) and his older, bitter brother Luke (Guy...