This play was like ‘trying Vegemite ice cream for the first time’. Five stars.

The Melbourne Fringe is at its halfway point! Here you can find a collection of reviews covering performances by some of the 2500 artists in this year’s festival. THEATRE Ballkids (or, scenes from a friendship) ★★★★★ VIMH, La Mama Courthouse, until October 13 For me, Liv Satchell’s glorious and adorable comedy about friendship was like trying Vegemite ice-cream for the first time. As a Xennial theatre critic, I had to overcome some ingrained prejudices to savour its deliciousness.

Ballkids (or, scenes from a friendship) is on at La Mama Courthouse until October 13. Credit: Jack Dixon-Gunn Seriously, a play focusing on BFFs (as if critics have friends!) flavoured with lashings of late- Millennial earnestness (kill me now!) sounded like a terrible idea. A terribly awkward idea trying too hard to be cool.

Most people fit that cringe description by 13, the age Sam (Izabella Yena) and Holly (Michelle McCowage) are when they first meet on a tennis camp for aspiring ballkids. In exquisitely crafted scenelets, we follow them from the early 2000s to 2024 as they live through adolescent optimism and anxiety, through grief, university, travel and adult milestones – from horrendous 21st parties to moving queer wedding celebrations – and the moments of stillness and silent comfort that only true friendship can bring. Satchell’s condensed script textures extroverted hilarity with emotional nuance.

A one-sided rant about lesbian internet porn at a teen sleepover, for ins.