Ian Sinclair’s new play Nocturna deals with the ambiguous sensual and, yes, sometimes sexual/quasi-romantic attachments between humans and pets. Much of the piece takes the form of a modern domestic or screwball comedy set in a young person’s share house. The strongest sections are, however, delivered as a series of increasingly surreal, poetic diatribes, which describe the action or fantasies seen by the characters unfolding before them, many of these being delivered by the feline protagonist, Molly (played by Ali Van Reeken).

Suah (Alicia Osyka), Noah (Daniel Buckle), Norabelle (Morgan Owen), Sean (Isaac Diamon) and Molly the cat (Alison Van Reeken) in Nocturna. Photo © Dana Weeks

Two slacker young men – Sean (Isaac Diamond) and Noah (Daniel Buckle) – share a house with the equally aimless young woman Suha (Alicia Osyka) and Sean’s tense if more upwardly mobile girlfriend Norabella (Morgan Owen). Sean has long been the proud owner of Molly, a now possessive and defensive cat whom the rest of the household find increasingly unsettling and disturbing.

Australian television and drama have not exactly been starved of sitcoms dealing with young householders, and the comedy here...