Between Us, Ballarat

A Story About Love, Change, and the Cost of Starting Over

Doug and Debbie thought a tree change would solve everything—cheaper rent, fresh air, and no more fighting for a car park. But Ballarat isn’t the quiet country town they expected. It’s bigger, bolder, and colder. Much colder. Filled with reminders of where they thought they’d be by now Debbie thrives in her new job teaching high school science, Doug—a historian without a classroom—feels lost, stuck between frustration, resentment, and the ghosts of his past.

What begins as an exciting new chapter soon reveals the cracks in their relationship. They are drifting apart, Debbie towards an attractive physics teacher at her new school, Doug towards a struggle with his failing mental health. They came looking for a new life, but as winter sets in and the heater struggles against the frost, their relationship is tested like a heritage-listed façade.

A sharp, funny, and deeply honest two-hander, Between Us, Ballarat explores love, career disappointments, personal reinvention, and what happens when life doesn’t turn out the way you planned—all against a backdrop of stone buildings, wide streets, ancient forests and the eternal struggle to find a park on Sturt Street.

Written by acclaimed playwright Robert Reid (The Joy of Text, On the Production of Monsters – MTC) and developed with local performers and crew, this is a modern love story about finding yourself—before it’s too late.