Theatre review: Loving Kurt Vonnegut, The Basement

David Aston and Anthea Hill play a pair of writers who lure a stranger to generate material for a novel. Photo / Supplied

Twists and turns of peculiar threesome is emotionally engaging and very entertaining.

Playwright Gary Stalker's intriguingly titled work pulls off a surprising feat with sophisticated, unashamedly literary writing that manages to be emotionally engaging and highly entertaining.

The drama bounces around a triangular relationship that forms when a pair of writers lure a stranger into their home in order to generate material for a novel.

The elaborate game-playing that follows is enlivened by unexpected reversals, emotionally charged explosions and some cleverly ironic dialogue on the correlation between art and life.

As well as being dramatically compelling, the plot twists are soaked in literary allusions with Chekhovian gun-play, an Edward Albee-style descent into domestic mayhem and a nod to Dostoyevsky's thoughts on the transformative power of epilepsy.

Fans of Kurt Vonnegut will enjoy some impassioned advocacy for the writer who, despite the enormous popularity of books like Slaughterhouse-Five, was often regarded as an outsider in literary circles due to his dalliance with science fiction.

David Aston's performance builds a charming portrait of a gleefully provocative old man with a casual indifference to the ways of the world.

Anthea Hill offers an appealing study of a young ambitious writer who can flit between manipulative, flirtatious and feistily combative moods yet be tenderly vulnerable.

As the stranger, Damien Avery effectively conveys a sense of bewilderment as he learns the rules of the game and turns the table on his puppet-masters.

What: Loving Kurt Vonnegut
Where: The Basement, to August 29