“At 5:30 P.M. on the third of November, in Telopea Park, following a verbal altercation, Benjamin Raleigh, eleven, armed with a stick, struck Henry Novak in the face. This action resulted in, apart from a swelling of the upper lip, the breaking of two incisors, including injury to the nerve in the right incisor.”

Two eleven-year-old boys, a stick and some broken teeth are the catalyst in this classic comedy, which Echo Theatre have reimagined, setting it in Canberra in a vibrant new production. When two couples meet to discuss the playground incident between their sons, the evening begins quite amicably. Soon, however, the afternoon deteriorates from one of mild unease and discomfort, into a deluge of accusations, recriminations, jealousy and rage. There’s aging parents, drug side effects, precious catalogues, abandoned hamsters, not to mention drinking, fighting, projectile vomiting and the destruction of some rather lovely tulips. Boys will be boys, but can the grown-ups be grown up enough to resolve their differences without losing sight of right and wrong?