Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Lachlan Houen
Presented by Red Herring Theatre & ACT Hub
ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 1 February
Reviewed by Len Power 22 January 2025
You’ll need a sense of humour for black comedy and a keen ear to fully appreciate Jez Butterworth’s seedy gangster play set behind the scenes in a 1950s English nightclub. In fact, as the play begins, you could be forgiven for wondering if you’ve blundered into the wrong play with the characters speaking what sounds like a foreign language.
This is the world of 1950s Soho in London uncompromisingly presented by writer, Jez Butterworth. The dialogue is part profanity and part colourful Cockney delivered at a machinegun pace by a group of not very bright, edgy and pill-taking young men. They’re trying to be as tough as their jobs demand, but they’re fearful and desperate to project an image of masculinity that they don’t really feel. When they learn that there has been a particularly nasty murder of the nightclub owner, they’re seriously out of their depth as a battle for power begins.
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| Lachlan Herring (Baby) and Taj De Montis (Skinny) - Photo by Ben Appleton - Photox Photography |
The fast-paced action has been staged with an impressive fluidity by the director, Lachlan Houen. He has obtained strong, colourful and real performances from his cast. Taylor Barrett shines as the more-controlled, ambitious Mickey and Lachlan Herring is particularly effective as the dangerously psychotic Baby. Jack Ferrier as Potts, Joel Hrbek as Sweets and Taj De Montis as Skinny give vivid, individual characterizations of these gangster types of the period. Their keen sense of timing brings out the humour in the script very well.
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| From left: Jack Ferrier (Potts), Lachlan Herring (Baby), Taylor Barrett (Mickey), Taj De Montis (Skinny) and Joel Hrbek (Sweets) - Photo by Helen Musa |
The lengthy opening scene with Potts and Sweets seems to be pitched too high, emotionally, and the impressively authentic sound of the dialogue is achieved often at the expense of clarity. It’s not a play where you feel much empathy for the characters, but it is an intriguing look at the shadowy world of English clubs of the era.
This is an impressive debut for Red Herring Theatre, a new theatre company for Canberra, hopefully a sign of more great theatre to come.
Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.
