Queensland Theatre returns to full audience capacity at the Bille Brown Theatre with the opening of David Megaritty’s The Holidays, winner of the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2018-19. Directed by Bridget Boyle, The Holidays is a tender and heart-wrenching family drama set during a quintessentially Australian beachside holiday, exploring the relationship between fathers and sons, and asking what we inherit from our parents and what we unwittingly pass on to our children.

Twelve-year- old Oliver Holiday is pulled out of school for a family road trip to Grandad’s beachside shack, his first visit in many years. But his grandfather is not there – it slowly becomes clear that he is in the nearby hospital, and that he will not be returning to the shack.

Bryan Probets and Matthew Ianna. Photograph © Morgan Roberts

Oliver is on the cusp of adolescence, trying to understand what is happening and to be heard by the adults in his life as they seek to shield him from the realities of his grandfather’s decline, which, it is implied, is related to dementia. Oliver speaks directly to the audience, sharing his thoughts and feelings beyond the fourth wall. Although the...