The Roommate follows a suburban woman whose life takes an unexpected turn into a midlife meltdown when she takes on a new housemate.

Lucy Bell stars as prim and proper Sharon — she’s divorced, her son has his own life in New York City and doesn’t always return her calls. Sharon has her reading group and lives a predictable, safe existence in Iowa where she doesn’t need to lock the doors. Then Robyn (Belinda Bromilow) moves in.

Brave and fiercely independent, Robyn embraces life with no half measures and a ‘just do it’ attitude. Sharon is in awe of this vegan, gay, almond-milk-drinking woman from the Bronx, and she wants to know everything about her. She bombards Robyn with questions but the private newcomer isn’t forthcoming, leading inquisitive — aka nosy — Sharon to go snooping. What she discovers transforms her quiet Iowa life.

Written by Jen Silverman, this dark comedy is not simply a play about friendship. It explores two women confronting loneliness and a loss of purpose, albeit for very different reasons. Director Lee Lewis observes: “The play doesn’t shy away from seeing the loneliness in women’s lives. But one of the best things about this play is Jen finding the comedy in the process of rediscovering agency. The joy of saying ‘YES’ to new ideas is hopeful and fun and funny.”

Under Lewis’s direction, the characters upend one another’s lives while engaging the audience with humour and heart. Robyn urges Sharon to “stop mummifying yourself” and insists that “you have to stop thinking about yourself as basically dead.” It’s the confrontation that Sharon needs, even if some of her choices leave audiences cringing with delight.

Bromilow is sharp as Robyn, a character with hard edges who hasn’t lived Sharon’s easy life. And it’s the differences between the women that allow them to play so well off each other. Bell portrays Sharon with a nervous, desperate energy. She wants to categorise everything: who Robyn is and, who she is herself. Yet over the course of the play, Sharon becomes a constantly evolving surprise, with Bell traversing the full spectrum of human emotion. As Lewis reflects: “Jen Silverman is a significant voice in the depiction of women’s lives onstage. She values the nuance of ordinary lives and is compassionate and hopeful as she tells stories of women defying conventions and expectations in small and big ways.”

Simone Romaniuk’s set design centres on the heart of the home, a bright kitchen where the two women dance, smoke and drink coffee as their lives gradually intertwine. Max Cox’s lighting beautifully distinguishes between night and day, while Linda Nicholls-Gidley’s dialect coaching delivers convincing American accents. Sharon’s French accent is questionable but entirely fitting for the moment.

Lewis observes: “I have seen women in the audience connect very deeply with the experiences of the characters onstage. It is incredibly relatable, but not often shown on our stages. The play ends with the idea that there are endless possibilities for women in their fifties, and they don’t have to be conventional or traditional or subject to anyone’s expectations. There is a hopeful if not conventional ending to this ‘journey of an ordinary woman into a future that could be way more interesting than her past’”.

That sense of possibility is what makes The Roommate so compelling. It embraces reinvention at any age.

Lewis summarises the work best: “The play is honest and does not pretend to wrap things up neatly, but certainly gives audiences plenty to talk about on the way out.”

4 stars

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. The Roommate is playing at Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli, Sydney until 25 July 2026.

Run time: 95 minutes (no interval)

For tickets visit Ensemble Theatre