Misterman

Misterman
By Enda Walsh. Siren Theatre Co in association with Red Line Productions. Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo. June 10 – 27, 2015

You know that person who struts around seeming holier than Jesus himself with that pleasant smile and the patience of a nun? Thomas Magill is one of those people. He takes care of his elderly mother and her cat in a little Irish town and is friendly to his neighbours. He’s a good Christian man doing God’s work…80 per cent of the time.

Enda Walsh’s brilliant play Misterman delves into the mind of a passionate but disturbed do-gooder who ultimately cracks under his own self-inflicted ideal of perfection. Walsh poetically demonstrates the irony that imperfect people – God’s own creation – can never fully live out the divine values they incessantly preach. It’s a dark and twisted play delivered triumphantly by Siren Theatre Co in association with Red Line Productions under the direction of Kate Gaul.

The Old Fitz is transformed into a missionary den – dark and dank but ‘pure’ of evil; the craftings of an obsessive-compulsive religious fanatic. Littered with tape desks to provide the voices of characters within Thomas’ world, this space is gorgeous and intricate…almost a beast-like character of its own. The lighting and sound design seamlessly enhance the creepily atmospheric space. Nate Edmondson supplies arguably the best sound design the Old Fitz space has seen, and Hartley Kemp makes magic happen with his layered, Christmas-meets-Freddy-Kruger lighting design.

Thomas Campbell shines in this one-man play. The audience follow him every step of the way from orderly local to love-struck captive to mad man; a fine display of Campbell’s range. Director Kate Gaul’s work is deliciously detailed. In what could be a confusing mess of bodiless voices, we are masterfully guided like a faithful apostle through the thrilling tumult of Walsh’s story. Gaul is truly a visionary. Dialect coach Natasha McNamara impresses in the consistent, hole-proof Irish accents of Campbell and voiceover cast.

A delicious production of a disturbing but electrifying play. Don’t miss Misterman.

Maryann Wright

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