REVIEW: Hot Tub - Ad Astra Theatre

Hot Tub

Presented By: Ad Astra Theatre

Venue: Pluto, Ad Astra, Petrie Terrace

Date Attended: 13 August 2026

Written By: Lewis Treston

Director: Daniel Lammin

Assistant Director: Ebony Webb

Assistant Director & Sound Designer: Eloise Collins

Stage Manager: Zalee Jensen

Set Designer: Ashleigh Winter

Costume Designer: Lottie Babic

Lighting Designer: Teegan Kranenburg

Photography: Sierra Sunset Co. | Saën Sunderland

“Ick! This is gonna trigger my childhood trauma.”

I have now spent several days trying to explain Hot Tub to people, and I’m not entirely convinced I can.

It's White Lotus meets The Real Housewives... but make it bogan Gold Coast. Set during Schoolies, awkward Townsville teenager Dido Hunter (Grace Lofting) has travelled to the GC to visit her absent father, Murray (Sandro Colarelli). She's got one tiny favour to ask him - just a casual $32K for some surgery in Brazil. She's pulled into his bizarre new family, where nobody seems capable of behaving like a normal human being.

Leading the household and property (The Great White) is Eunice White (Sarah Speller), whose fortune is vanishing thanks to some questionable investments. Murray is hitched to Eunice’s daughter Jade (Natasha McDonald), who spends most of Act One temporarily blind after eye surgery in Bangkok. Her son Reese (Lachlan Brayshaw) is Dido’s pampered new stepbrother and an OnlyFans creator who quickly concocts another money-making scheme. Toss in a loony cop, a friendly tradie, a juiced-up conman, and a criminal investigation...

Daniel Lammin’s direction doesn’t try to tame any of it. Scenes are abrupt, heightened, and occasionally bonkers. The family gathering just gets stranger every time somebody new wanders in. Just when I was wrapping my head around one jaw-dropping moment (that stairwell scene, anyone?), another one would pop up. Eventually, I gave up on predicting the madness and just rode the rollercoaster in joy.

When I entered Ad Astra’s intimate black-box theatre, Pluto, the cast was already lounging in beach chairs around the space. With no traditional wings, the performers remain visible around the perimeter when they’re “offstage”. It suits the GC resort vibe rather nicely (and means we never really escape this family). Ashleigh Winter’s sparse set leaves plenty for the performers and our imagination to do. The long-awaited arrival of the titular hot tub is particularly funny, with the ensemble committing wholeheartedly to the mime. Eloise Collins’ sound design transports us straight to Surfers Paradise. We’re serenaded by the sounds of Schoolies, the beach, and the bubbling spa. The local references hit home for a QLD crowd. This isn’t some generic satire. Many of us have probably wandered down Cavill Ave late at night and made poor decisions of our own...

Grace Lofting brings an awkward vulnerability to Dido. She's clearly fishing for more than just cash from Murray, even if both of them are clueless about how to express it. As Dido gets sucked into the whirlwind of the Hunter-White circle (since Dad is too preoccupied to take her to Movie World like he promised), Lofting lets her character evolve with it. By later scenes, she’s in sparkly togs with styled hair, plumped lips, and heavier makeup. She even ends up "performing" for Reese's online fans to rake in some cash. There's an undercurrent in Dido's storyline about changing yourself to fit the life you think you want. Lofting holds onto that vulnerability without letting it disappear beneath all the jokes throughout.

“Do you like yourself?”

Sandro Colarelli plays the denim-clad hipster-wannabe-bogan dad Murray. He's got the aura of a man who's undoubtedly made several financial choices that shouldn't be investigated too closely. His interactions with Dido swing between awkward, touching, or tragic as you gradually realise how poorly they really know each other.

And then there’s Jade...

Somehow, Murray and Jade make perfect sense together. Natasha McDonald is a riot as his fabulously flashy trophy wife, who spends most of Act One stumbling around and screeching. She’s childlike, melodramatic, and completely on her own wavelength. She needs to bathe her crystals in the ocean and occasionally slips into prophetic episodes. That pretty much says it all. She has strong Alexis Rose/Moira Rose (Schitt's Creek) vibes, particularly once The NeverEnding Story karaoke kicks in. McDonald's comedic timing is so loose and unpredictable that I started to wonder if she was making it up as she went along. Her pauses, whines, and odd reactions seem to hit Jade about half a second before they tumble out of her mouth.

Lachlan Brayshaw’s Reese is the ultimate brat queen who has grown up with money and a serious disconnect from the real world. He somehow exudes a spectacular sense of self-importance yet remains entirely indifferent to everything. Brayshaw portrays him with a dry humour, never glossing over his casual cruelty. Beneath all that luxury and privilege lies an emotional void, which makes some interactions with Dido surprisingly impactful.

“You’re gonna make a lucky man very unhappy one day.”

Sarah Speller brings formidable authority to Eunice White, the haughty head of this unstable household. Eunice is British, affluent, and stern, with a keen interest in horse racing and an apparent comfort with brandishing a firearm. Meanwhile, she continues dispensing proclamations and attempts to keep the family's finances afloat (but not in the hot tub).

“You’re not entitled to the good things in life, you have to earn them.”

Then we have Officer Sheryl. Ruby Gudenswager might have created the character who stayed in my head the longest afterwards. Sheryl has these huge, intensely focused eyes; it's like she's trying to hypnotise you into confessing your deepest secrets. I’m fairly sure she never blinked. She truly is the most intriguing character to unpack - just mention the old Gold Coast Bungee Rocket. By the closing moments, Sheryl is softly singing the lyrics of Savage Garden’s Affirmation to soothe herself. I’ve been listening to Affirmation non-stop ever since. Those lyrics really are like a warm hug for the soul.

Daniel Johnson pulls double duty as Macka and Stinger. Macka is your laid-back Gold Coast tradie (who also happens to be an undercover cop). In Act Two, he reappears as Stinger, a bikie conman with an overconfident swagger.

“Enjoy hell, I’m sure you’ll fit right in!”

The ensemble work is one of the biggest reasons all of this holds together. The actors are all equally brilliant at portraying Treston’s over-the-top characters. You simply couldn’t play this material halfway. That commitment also helps Lammin keep the plot rolling when it starts tying itself in knots. Amidst the chaos, there's plenty to keep us entertained. This family is always on the hunt for the next quick fix. And if all else fails... there's always karaoke.

It all sits perfectly inside this very Gold Coast collision between luxury and tackiness. For all the satire, though, the Hunter-Whites are oddly charming in their own disastrous way. The audience around me seemed equally bewildered and entertained. At times I was watching the faces across the theatre almost as much as the stage. There were plenty of visible WTF reactions and a tidal wave of laughs throughout.

Hot Tub is coarse, camp, deliberately tacky, and gloriously chaotic. There are references to body image, drugs, sex work, gambling, and violence (plus firearms, loud noises, and flashing lights). It won’t be for somebody looking for tidy realism or a plot that politely explains itself. I walked out trying to work out exactly what I had just witnessed. I also walked out wanting to tell everybody about it.