Theatre / “Wild Thing”. At Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, April 28. Reviewed by SIMONE PENKETHMAN.

“WILD Thing” by Australian writer, Suzanne Hawley, is a play about war babies, the generation born between 1939 and 1945 who have now grown old.

Jackie, Frances, Susan and Elizabeth are 13-year-old schoolgirls in 1956 when we first meet them in the bush by a river. They are ostensibly drawing landscapes for an art class, but really, they’re discussing the mystery of how babies are made and whether you can get pregnant from eating ice-cream.

Their hapless teacher (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) in his long socks and shorts, is powerless to prevent Jackie (Di Smith) who can “draw a bit” from jumping naked into the river to rescue a stray dog.

It’s a portrait of a simpler era when going to university was considered a waste of time for girls who were expected to leave school at 15, get a job, and pay board until they married.

But times change and by the early ’60s these four women are travelling to London for their grand tour with the spicy hope of meeting The Beatles.

Bonded for life by shared experience rather than common interest, they remain friends, meeting once a year, well into old age.

Jackie became an artist and pilot living the bohemian dream with her beloved Marco (Tony Poli). Now she is widowed and isolated.

Elizabeth (Helen O’Connor) wrote racy novels but can’t quite begin her next book.

Frances (Katrina Foster) is a relationship counsellor whose own marriage broke down.

Susan (Di Adams), married her Catholic high school sweetheart and is now an empty nester, torn between religious devotion and a yearning to be desired.

Every design, light and sound element of this show is perfectly balanced and executed, supporting a story that treads thoughtfully and lightly through some of the fundamental challenges of life, frailty and death.

This is a top-shelf production and a testament to the continuing art of a generation actors, writers and producers who have shaped our national story in film, on TV and on stage.