The Vegemite Tales
reviewed by Paul Vale, The Stage, June 05

Set in a flatshare in Acton, The Vegemite Tales witnesses the trials and tribulations of life for a group of Australians living in London. While not the first time this Antipodean tale has been told on these shores, the script sparkles with life and a wit and freshness rarely seen on the fringe today. There is more than a touch of the sitcom about this play and yet it is the sheer theatricality and that connection with a live audience that makes it work so well.

Andrew Robb as Sam is the father figure of the house and welcomes us into their home with an abundance of New World charm. Many of the characters we meet appear fairly stereotypical and yet as the play progresses the characterisations grow stronger so that even the bitchy Melbourne actress Jane, played brilliantly by Sarah Hadland, is not quite as she seems.

Tom Sangster and Dan Steel goof around superbly as Sheila-hungry clowns while Jessica Gerger gives a touching performance as the artist Gemma, whose personal dilemma adds a good deal of drama and saves us from the boys’ hysterical, unrelenting search for the next root Sarah McGlade is wonderful as the feisty Maddie and Andy Leonard rings the changes as the Italian waiter Gio.

This is a perfect piece of tight, ensemble acting with pacey direction from Bill Buckhurst, full of good humour and extremely sharp character observations recommended to anyone, Australian or otherwise, who enjoys cracking comedy theatre.

The Vegemite Tales
reviewed by Sharon Garfinkel, What's On, June 05

Melanie Tait put her experience of living in the UK to excellent use by writing a sell-out play depicting life for 20- and 30-something Aussies in the capital. This, her first play, beautifully captures what life is like as an outsider in the UK "where life is put on hold". Instead of responsibility, there is much drinking, sex and banal jobs.

She has set the play in a flat-share in West London where five Aussies and one Italian (Andy Leonard) go about their daily lives. They live in disorganised chaos and the action takes place in the lounge, brilliantly designed by Tamasin Rhymes. not only are there numerous Lonely Planets, but the walls are adorned with posters and photographs and a whiteboard for messages - there is a guitar, inflatable crocodile and a surfboard in bubble-wrap which country dossser Eddie (Tom Sangster) sleeps on, when he is not out pulling girls. The one outsider is Aussie Maddie (Sarah McGlade) who is desperate to lose her virginity to Dan (former Home & Away star Ben Steel), a party animal who firmly believes "My dick is my life" and gradually finds himself falling for Maddie. But in this comedy, few things run smoothly, least of all for their burgeoning love.

The Vegemite Tales was a winner when it first hit the capital several years ago. The script has now been re-written with newer references and there is some terrific filmed footage including a wonderful farewell drinks party to Sam (Andrew Robb) at one of the ever-popular Walkabout bars. Part of the play's appeal is that whilst this is a comedy, there are a number of poignant moments when life and death decisions (literally) have to be made.

Director Bill Buckhurst's production will leave you with a smile. My Aussie companions were nodding throughout - particularly when homesick Sam returns home after seven years. On leaving, one said "Awesome". It is hard to find a better word to describe this production.

The Vegemite Tales
3 stars
reviewed by Heather Neill, What's On Stage, June 05

Strange how potent nostalgia for yeast extract can be. Anyone who has delivered a shipment of Marmite to ex-pat Brits will understand the piquancy of this title featuring its Australian equivalent.

Six west London flat-mates and a frequent visitor, all but one from Oz, booze away the threat of homesickness and play out caricatures of young folks from Down Under. One even sleeps on his surfboard, still festooned in bubble-wrap just as it came through customs into a cold country without winners (except in rugby), where the girls put on weight and the boys lose muscle tone. The messy flat (designed by Tamasin Rhymes) is merely a staging post, its walls decorated with postcards from elsewhere.

Proceedings begin with the first of several brilliant video clips, in which Sam's mum wishes him a Happy New Year and encourages him to come home. She cannot understand how anyone could choose grey Britain over the golden Antipodes. It would be possible to describe The Vegemite Tales as a rite-of-passage play, or to claim that it deals with the dynamics of friendship or the way nations (and sexes) caricature each other.

All of this would be to some extent true, but writer Melanie Tait's main purpose is to entertain those far from their warm, sporty, surf-boarding home. Judging by the show's legendary fringe success and the whoops of delighted recognition on its latest press night, she seems to have succeeded. 

Billed as an answer to Friends and numbering a star of Home and Away (Ben Steel) in its cast the piece wears its soap credentials on its sleeve. The characters are broard-brushed funny, from Sarah Hadland's super bitchy Jane (a citizen of snooty Melbourne) holding her nose at the domestic habits of the men, to super-stud Dan (Steel) who counts his conquests in dozens but gets the droop with virginal Maddie (tiny, earnest Sarah McGlade) whom he really likes. Bodily functions and fluids are a constant feature of conversation.

Bill Buckhurst directs a knowing, good-natured show, blithely sending up itself and its subject matter. There are a couple of rip-roaring sequences, especially Tom Sangster as luckless Eddie energetically preparing for a hot date, complete with sock-stuffed Y-fronts and a black-tie-T-shirt. And there's one moment of real emotion involving Gemma (Jessica Gerger) which momentarily silences the guffaws.

The play ends with the happy return of Sam (Andrew Robb) to Sydney, belatedly facing up to adult life in the sunshine. As it happens, Ms Tait is there too, having made her mark in the prissy old UK.

Tales of friends to touch us all
Reviewed by Sarah Cosgrove, Freetime, July 05

Acton, West London. The venue for a typical flat of 20-something Antipodean flat-mates, transported from the sunshine to the rain and the bills and Heathrow injection. Friends it certainly is not.

The Vegemite Tales, by Melanie Tait, will have you holding your sides from beginning to end. It is sharply written, perfectly timed and performed with more rabid energy than a first year university student has at the Fresher's Ball.

 Dan, played by Home and Away star Ben Steel, is famed for his prowess in the bedroom until he meets fresh-off-the-boat somehow virgin in her early 20s Maddie (Sarah McGlade), who steals his heart along with the action in his underpants. His incompetent attempts at wooing her while thinking "with the wrong head" are only rivaled by Eddie's (Tom Sangster) even more wince-worthy endeavours to get laid while keeping all his bones intact.

Architect Sam (Andrew Robb) has been here seven years and is yearning for home and Gemma (Jessica Gerger) has to face the biggest decision of her life while being a world away from her mum. Bitchy yoga obsessed Melbourne actress Jane (Sarah Hadland) shows a different side to the Aussie psyche and the excellently observed Italian waiter Gio (Andy Leonard) tops off the whole thing by masquerading as a cultured man but being just as dirty as the rest.

If you have ever lived with Antipodeans in London or lived and worked in another country, you will find plenty you recognise here. Cute little touches like the fact that sheep shearer Eddie wears thongs (flip flops to you and me) and white sports socks with everything including his suit and Dan spending the entire play with his flies open flesh out the action.

The set is almost scarily realistic. Magazine cut-outs and pin-ups adorn the walls along with the obligatory library of Lonely Planet guides.
The story is told through manic action punctuated with mini-soliloquies along with a clever use of film as the characters head out to the city to party. Bill Buckhurst's direction is on the ball if a smidgen too energetic for the size of the venue.

A rollicking good time, The Vegemite Tales nevertheless has grit as well as giggles. You can feel the collective yearning of the mostly-Antipodean audience when Sam tells of how much he feels as if he's missing out on real life while being in London. If your bent is high art, leave this play well alone. But while the tales of these friends may hit harder if you are form Down Under, the exploration of their merits and flaws can touch us all.

Aussies acting up in Acton 
reviewed by Emma Whitelaw, Indie London, June 05

AUSTRALIANS simply love to 'take the piss' – this is especially so when they are satirising themselves!

Melanie Tait’s The Vegemite Tales, now showing at Riverside Studios, is a prime example of the uniquely dry wit of the average antipodean.

The characters sharing the small flat in Acton seem to believe that the further you are from home, the more at liberty you are to misbehave. Blokes and sheilas alike get up to all sorts of shenanigans at their home from home.

Andrew Robb is delightful as Sam, the father figure of the house. The show begins with a hilarious home video of his mum, brother and their pet dog.

Having spent the past seven years in London, Sam is an authority on how to make the most of the London experience. Boozing away any threat of homesickness, Sam believes he has found the answer to escaping a failing relationship – simply get on a plane and don’t look back!

He warmly welcomes the audience into their humble abode. Designed with authentic precision by Tamasin Rhymes, the set is covered in houseshare filth.

Walls covered in posters and postcards, VB cans strewn across the floor, surfboard in the corner and, of course, all the aussie CDs you could ever wish for.

Home and Away star Ben Steel is excellent as Dan, who has trouble thinking outside of his underwear. Having pulled over 30 chicks in his time, Dan sees himself as a bit of a stud but when it comes to scoring with Maddie (Sarah McGlade), the one girl he really cares for, he just can’t seem to rise to the challenge.

Prime bitch and snooty Melbournite, Jane, annoys the entire house with her incessant nagging about the state of the toilet bowl.

The talented Sarah Hadland is an absolute delight as the irritating housemate that everyone loves to hate, but it is her second role of the night, posh fox fur loving Portia that brought the house down.

Tom Sangster, too, had the audience in stitches with his preparing for a hot date sequence complete with y-fronts stuffed with socks; his characterisation of the luckless Eddie is superb.

Though obviously written with the Australian population of London in mind, the tale is as entertaining as any. With accessible characters and complex subplots the script is full of slapstick humour and witty one liners and billed as Australia’s answer to Friends.

It is arguably one of the funniest plays staged this summer.

The Vegemite Tales
reviewed by Peggy Leader, Rogues and Vagabonds, June 05

The Vegemite Tales is the first play to be written by ex-Old Red Lion Artistic Director Melanie Tait, now back at home in Australia after running the theatre for two years.

The action takes place in a small studenty flat in Acton and followed seven Aussie ex-patriots living the life of Riley in Britain's capital city. They drink hard, play hard and strive to make a life away from the sun, sea and sand, but experiencing all that London has to offer doesn't quite bridge the gap between the "humourless" colonialist's and "yellow toothed" imperialist's ideals. Home is where the heart is and although most Brits who suffer the rigours of Australian immigration stay there for life, our numerous Australian counterparts long to return to their antipodean shores.

Light, trite and easy on the intellect, this production is highly entertaining, particularly if you are an Australian, the jargonistic language and vernacular, although unremittingly familiar ear via Neighbours and Home and Away, offering a fluffy, pink blanket comforter to those on a cultural exchange. "The arms of the motherland drawing her children closer together" which was certainly the case at the Riverside on opening night, the number of British first nighters far outweighed by their Australian cousins, the show's target audience.

Of course, the play laughs at all the typical clichéd Australian traits - chauvinism, racism, homophobia et al... But whilst taking into account its comedic attributes, if you are one of the outsiders there is a feeling of alienation from the text and from the 'club'.

All seven performers, led by the excellent Ben Steel as Dan (Home and Away's Jude Lawson) and Andrew Robb as Sam (The Vegemite Tales 2002-2004) are wonderful. In fact, thanks to Matt Western, without such as strong cast the play might well not be as successful.

Bill Buckhurst's direction is slick and effortless with some great athletic moments and hugely comic ones, in particular Sarah Hadland's metamorphosis from telegraph-reading red clad mini-wearing, night-clubbing pole dancer to bible-bashing Margaret Thatcher in the space of one monologue!

Saran McGlade as virginal Maddie, shows first experience of an orally induced climax is accompanied by three furry swirling platypuses, is feisty and exuberant. Tom Sangster is hilarious as the puny Eddie who, when his socks are not stuffed down his underpants, wears them with his flip flops , lives on the floor in the corner of the living room and attempts to pull all fake red heads under the hopeful supposition they are "easy".

Jessica Gerger suffers the one serious trauma of the evening that is the pivotal moment within the play and stuns the audience into silence with her truly emotional outburst. Andy Leonard as the too-rarely-seen Gio, the only non-Aussie character, is welcome relief with his stilted English, delightful Italian accent and Latin appearance!

This feel-good comedy drama is full of clichés and predictability, is Australian biased and doesn't cross nationalities well, but it is funny and no brain is required. A bit like an Aussie Behaving Badly with its own Neil Morrisey, plenty of "tinny" crashing and "up your bums".

Previous seasons...

The Vegemite Tales will make you laugh - it may make you cry, but above all, it will lay before you a life-in-London experience that anyone can relate to on some level. And there can't be much wrong with that.
TNT Magazine Feb 04


"It's like a funnier version of 'Friends'. It will make you laugh and you'll leave smiling."
**** Three Weeks


"All of the cast are damn good. The script is sharply written and acted with wit, charm and passion as it rips between humour and emotion. Slick, funny and moving, this is one to see."
**** Fest


The Vegemite Tales could just be one of those cult comedies that, like Stones in His Pockets or Puppetry of the Penis, uses Edinburgh as a stepping stone to major commercial success. It is extremely funny - undoubtedly a hit in the making.
***** British Theatre Guide


"It's a great thing to witness: a real cultural comedy event. Long may the fringe support its like." The Observer


"The cast's comic punctuation is metronome perfect." Time Out


Listed as one of the five best plays in England - The Independent, Feb 03


"Fair to say, that if Tait bottled her recipe for success there would be a long queue of struggling playwrights ready to buy a few litres... Those who have seen it a few times will tell you what a good night out this play can be. For those still to develop a taste, now would be a great time for a first bite!" TNT Magazine

"The Vegemite Tales is back...and is funnier, sharper and more touching than ever". Full review>>
British Theatre Guide, Feb 2004