Theatre/ The Shoe-Horn Sonata. At The Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, until April 27. Reviewed by ALANNA MACLEAN. 

John Misto’s 1995 play about the experiences of two women in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp remains a powerful reminder of the need to remember and learn from the past.

The Mill Theatre, with its eccentrically shaped playing space and close actor audience relationship suits this sometimes harrowing story of survival.

Fifty years after the end of World War II Bridie (Andrea Close) and Sheila (Zsuzsi Soboslay) meet again for a TV interview about the time they spent in a POW camp in Sumatra.

Then, Bridie was a practical and brash Australian  nurse, Sheila a very young English woman. They have not seen each other since the war ended. How the reunion plays out in hotel rooms and a TV studio surrounded by the detritus of memories reveals some difficult secrets and truths.

But there’s also humour and warmth as this very experienced cast play out Bridie and Sheila’s shared experiences and enduring relationship. Close’s Bridie has Sydney suburb Chatswood as her touchstone and her stress plays out in a department store food hall among post-war Japanese tourists. Soboslay’s more introverted Sheila is nursing a dark wartime secret that has probably restricted  her life.

And the shoe-horn and the musical reference of the play’s title do unfold themselves in time.

Director Lexi Sekuless shapes the show with skilful firmness as the story of the two women is gradually revealed.

The Mill Theatre continues to be a place where audiences can expect solidly challenging theatre.