THE BALLAD OF THE UNBEATABLE HEARTS Guy Masterson's Centre for International Theatre (CIT) Higher Ground East Until 17 Mar 2012 Review by Jamie Wright Richard Fry returns to Adelaide, having performed his self-penned shows “Bully” and “Smiler” in 2010 and 2011 respectively. He specialises in a kind of one-man storytelling done almost entirely in verse, and the stories themselves are always dark-humoured and deeply moving, and feature characters facing serious adversity. “The Ballad of the Unbeatable Hearts” follows that pattern; it is the story of John Wayne (not that John Wayne), a young man growing up gay in the UK, with all of the problems that entails. The statistics say it all: depression, drug use and – most tragically – suicide all occur at a far higher rate amongst the GLBT community. Fry’s writing is clever and subtle and exceptionally well-structured, which allows for sudden shifts in tone. This, combined with his skill as a performer, means he’s able to having you smiling or laughing out loud at one moment and then be dying a little inside only moments later. When the audience members leaving a venue with dry eyes are in the minority, you know you’ve experienced something special. It’s a story that is – given how much we think we have achieved in becoming a better society – sadly far closer to fact than it is fiction. Yes, it’s political; yes, it’s issue-driven – but some lessons simply can’t be taught often enough until real change occurs. A powerful, thought-provoking and utterly compelling piece of theatre. Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)