★★★½☆ A whimsical, sometimes baffling but ultimately charming study of the human condition.

Beckett Theatre, Malthouse
July 7, 2016

In some ways, English is a woefully basic language. Don’t get me wrong; there’s no doubt that the native tongue of Shakespeare and Keats and Milton (and this humble theatre critic) is capable of exquisitely beautiful feats. But what of those ineffable feelings: those peculiar, nuanced sensations that just can’t be easily summed-up? How do we take that which is innately subjective and share it beyond the confines of our own experience? Japanese, German, Finnish, Hebrew, Russian; all these languages and many more have found a solution, using compound adjectives to capture in a single word the je nes sais quoi of human expression. In just a few syllables, a completely distinct reaction can be communicated, its significance captured with effortless efficiency.

The English language’s shortcomings in this respect subtly underpin Ranters Theatre’s latest original work, Come Away With Me To The End Of The World. Whimsical, sometimes baffling but, in its own way, charming, this piece is not so much a stream as it is a dribble of consciousness. Distilled from conversations shared by the...