On the closing night of The Last Train to Madeline at The Popsy Theatre, presented by Australian Theatre for Young People, the room seemed to echo back to an earlier age. Like that of a long summer afternoon that you didn’t realise would define a particular period of your life.
Written by emerging Australian playwright Callum Mackay, The Last Train to Madeline frames first love, friendship, and growing up through a kaleidoscopic lens that shifts across space and time.
It is very clearly a story about these two young people, and yet, it feels just as much like it could be about any of us. The play marks a significant new work in the youth theatre landscape, and, as such, is a fitting inaugural production for ATYP’s new performance space.
We follow Maddy and Luke across three key stages of their lives: childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. At eight, Maddy is certain her father is a rock star and that the world is waiting for her.
At seventeen, the edges of reality begin to blur those dreams. By twenty-three, both characters are left to reckon with who they were, who they are, and what has been lost along the way. It feels more like a collage of moments than a linear narrative – fragments of memory stitched together with tenderness and care.
This production confidently embraces that fragmentation as Director Hayden Tonazzi leans into the fluidity of time. The actors playing different ages often linger. They bleed into each other’s scenes, leading to a final interaction that bends the rules of time and space in an achingly beautiful way. Events unfold and then continue to resurface in an emotionally truthful production.
The casting across three age groups is one of the production’s greatest strengths. Tyallah Bullock and Leon Walshe anchor the piece as the 23-year-old Maddy and Luke. Their performances carry the accumulated history of the characters, grounding the play’s more abstract moments.
As the 17-year-olds, Rylea Eilis and Finn Middleton capture the volatility and intensity of adolescence with impressive nuance. In one moment, Rylea sings a song as the other cast members montage around her. This gives an incredibly effective and almost cinematic calibre.
Meanwhile, the youngest cast members – Pia Monti, Rory Spinks, Sophie Ghnodtke and Trix Bowditch – bring an infectious energy and that unfiltered sense of possibility that defines childhood.
Savanna Wegman’s production and set design draws on a real multi-layered nostalgic world, the romance of urban spaces and the coming of age in youth.
Spencer Herd’s lighting design plays a crucial role in shaping the emotional landscape. It shifts seamlessly between warm nostalgia and sharper, more reflective tones.
Oliver Beard’s composition and sound design weaves through the production with sensitivity, often feeling like a memory in itself.
The Last Train to Madeline doesn’t try to resolve the messiness of growing up. Instead, it sits in the quiet grief of letting go of who you once were. It trusts its audience – both young and old – to recognise themselves somewhere within the fragments.
As a closing night performance, there was a palpable sense of completion. Not just for the run, but for the journey of these characters. A tender, visually poetic and deeply felt coming-of-age story, The Last Train to Madeline is a quietly powerful reminder that growing up is as much about what we lose as what we find.
The Last Train to Madeline was presented by Australian Theatre For Young People (ATYP) from 11 – 28 March 2026. The Popsy, Pier 2/3, Suite 2/13A Hickson Rd Dawes Point, NSW 2000.
The season has now ended.
Tickets: https://www.atyp.com.au/productions/the-last-train-to-madeline
Website: https://www.atyp.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/atyp_theatre/
Photo credits: Phil Erbacher
