Cost of Living
The title of Martyna Majok’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play immediately evokes thoughts of skyrocketing rental prices, the grocery duopoly, and the decline in bulk-billing GPs. While Cost of Living does touch on pressing issues like these, it also delves deeper – exploring not only the economic costs, but also the emotional and social toll of navigating a world that places numerous barriers around the fundamental human right to receive care. Vulnerable, honest, and often heartwarmingly funny – the Australian production of this celebrated Broadway show (a co-pro from Sydney Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre) not only proves that inclusive storytelling is possible, but also that it can be profoundly impactful when disabled people are given the opportunity to participate in the telling of their stories. Centering around two characters living with visible disabilities (one present since birth, and the other acquired later in life) receiving care, Cost of Living explores disability as a multidimensional experience. Co-directors Priscilla Jackman (RBG: Of Many, One) and Dan Daw (The Dan Daw Show) – who also features in the cast – treat the characters with a sense of dignity and nuance that is all-too-rarely afforded to people with physical differences. First, we meet Eddie (Philip Quast - Do not go gentle…) – an ex-truck driver whose many years on the road and in lonely motels across the United States have left him feeling uneasy about being alone with his thoughts. His attempts