Originally commissioned by Melbourne Theatre Company for its 2020 season, The Heartbreak Choir is the late Aidan Fennessy’s final play. It’s a miracle of optimism and humour from a man who knew he was dying of cancer when he wrote it. It’s also refreshingly direct storytelling, without laboured agendas or obscure meanings.

Indeed there’s a wonderful verisimilitude about this production directed by Peter Houghton, who maintains a naturalistic sense of drama and space throughout its 130 minutes. The set is a mid-century community hall in country Victoria, with honour rolls, a tiny temperamental old wall heater and a portrait of the Queen from the early days of her reign. Realistic incidental sounds include the heater’s ticking, native birds and cicadas, and the occasional car pulling up outside, headlights gliding across the hall’s upper windows.

The Heartbreak Choir, Melbourne Theatre Company, 2022. Photo © Jeff Busby

A handful of locals gather to sing. They’re the kind of mixed bunch you might find in a country town moving with the times. There’s matter-of-fact Totty, whose family has prospered here for generations, extrovert farmer Mack and her introvert teenage daughter Savannah....