It’s hard to tell, when Debra Oswald moseys onto the SBW Stables stage and starts speaking, if she is launching her play or just giving the audience a casual welcome to settle in. The house lights are still up, and there’s not the slightest waft of a dramatic air making taut the lines of attention between audience and performer. But no: this is the play, and we have indeed begun.

Such is the lightly entertaining, near unwavering tone of Is There Something Wrong With That Lady?: a casual, one-sided chat from an amiable, accomplished and self-reflective woman on the unpredictable ups and downs of a full-time female writer. Only very slowly, and very gradually, do the lights dial down. It’s almost as if she’s a little embarrassed that the audience is made separate.

Debra Oswald in Is There Something Wrong With That Lady? Photograph © Brett Boardman

Now in her early sixties, Oswald is a versatile talent of great repute in the creative industry. She’s written plays that have won awards and toured the world, like Gary’s House, The Peach Season and Mr Bailey’s Minder. She’s the creator of popular Australian TV series Offspring,...