Created with the realities and uncertainties of presenting theatre during COVID times in mind, Kerosene is a one-woman show stripped back to the bare essentials. There’s no ingenious set or pretty costumes to distract; just a lone, laser-focused performer and an intriguing script about how far someone will go for a lifelong, life-defining friendship.

Izabella Yena in Kerosene. Photograph © Jack Dixon-Gunn

From teenager to young woman, the unnamed protagonist of Benjamin Nichol’s script is adrift and sometimes violent. She lives in Melbourne’s outer suburbs with her grandfather, who is loving but increasingly ill-equipped to provide the support and guidance she needs. Almost disregarding him, the girl finds her anchor in school friend Annie. They swear love and loyalty, “no matter the cost, no matter the consequence,” but when Annie and Trent get together she cuts her friend off. Years later, Annie reappears, bloodied and bruised, and our protagonist finds her purpose again: revenge.

Seen last year in Melbourne Theatre Company’s Home, I’m Darling and feature film Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, Izabella Yena takes on Kerosene’s demanding solo role. In an unchanging costume of baggy bogan streetwear, she carries almost...