The phrase “cost of living” is inescapable at the moment, but that wasn’t the case when Martyna Majok’s play Cost of Living premiered in 2016. Co-directed by Priscilla Jackman and Dan Daw, who also stars in the work as John, Queensland Theatre presents the Australian premiere production of this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about caring as an adjective, a verb, and a fundamental human need.
Co-produced by Queensland Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company, this production represents a national milestone as the first mainstage play in Australia to have a 50/50 ratio of disabled and non-disabled actors onstage, and with almost the same ratio on the creative team. Cost of Living will tour to the Wharf 1 Theatre in July after its premiere season at Brisbane’s Bille Brown Theatre.
Written by Polish-American playwright Martyna Majok, Cost of Living is set over several months in New Jersey and follows four characters. Wealthy Princeton PhD student John (Daw) has cerebral palsy and is living alone for the first time. He hires Jess (Zoe de Plevitz) as his carer, a young woman from an immigrant background who is working several jobs and still struggling to make ends meet. In the meantime, Ani (Kate Hood) is begrudgingly accepting help from her estranged husband, long-haul trucker Eddie (Philip Quast), as she adjusts to life as a wheelchair user after an accident.
The audience met Eddie first, sitting alone in a bar and sharing his story with an unseen stranger. From these first moments, Quast’s warmth radiated from the stage and his continuous, seamless patter carried through the entire play. From there, the story jumped back to the past and unfolded episodically, as Eddie reappeared in Ani’s life and Jess had her job interview with John. Their stories intertwined only briefly, but the parallels were clear. Cost of Living deals with disability and ableism, but also examines disparities in wealth and privilege, and how these intersect with disability, healthcare, and work. More broadly, the play reminds us of the necessity of interconnectedness and interdependence in all of our lives.
Cost of Living is grounded in lived experience: Martyna Majok drew on her experiences as a former carer and an immigrant to America in writing the play; Dan Daw lives with cerebral palsy like John; and Kate Hood is a wheelchair user like her character Ani.
Cost of Living is a play about disability and care, and two different partnerships navigating this under very different circumstances. Although estranged, Eddie and Ani know each other innately, whereas John and Jess are learning about each other in a professional setting (despite the more personal feelings that Jess begins to develop). The play presents the complex dynamics of caring, the blurred lines between proximity and intimacy, and the difference in being cared for by a stranger as opposed to a partner or family member.
The stage management team were frequently visible during scene transitions, in keeping with the play’s themes around making support roles visible. Set and costume design by Michael Scott-Mitchell included shifting sections of grey-brick painted walls, transitioning the setting between John’s home and Ani’s apartment as well as other locations. Water featured prominently throughout the play. Lighting design by John Rayment further clarified the shifts in setting, and composition and sound design by Guy Webster underlined the play’s most poignant moments.
Dan Daw played John as aloof but straight-talking and Zoe de Plevitz brought sincerity to the role of Jess, although her delivery of the character’s stop-start dialogue sometimes felt clipped and unnatural. Kate Hood played the sardonic, sharp-tongued Ani with wry humour, and Philip Quast was outstanding as the cheerful and salt-of-the-earth Eddie.
Cost of Living is a wrenchingly human drama about a simple aspect of living that we will all experience at some time, either as a carer or as someone being cared for (or both), and it was refreshing to see this played out on stage with frankness and vulnerability.
Cost of Living will be performed at the Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane, from 15 June – 13 July 2024
For ticketing and further information, visit the Queensland Theatre website
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