Toy Box

All you need to relate to this play, and probably laugh a lot, is a family.

The humour, though, comes with a bite.

Three adult siblings, whose lives have taken very different paths, face, or try to avoid facing, the issue of caring for their aging parents – one terminally ill, the other suffering from dementia.

The results are fierce and darkly funny, as sub-surface family friction and strains rush to the fore.

Does the duty fall on one sibling, simply because of life choices or mistakes of the others? What happens when the most probable choice is removed from the equation?

Toy Box will resonate with anyone who has been touched by the awareness of the mortality of a parent. Many will identify very closely with one or other of the siblings, some may well cringe.

The joy Paul Gilchrist’s new play is that the examination is both witty and truthful, and the performances, particularly the interactions of the three siblings, match the qualities of the writing.

With fire, passion and persistence, Sylvia Keays shines as the independent, intense, single sibling Olivia, pushing the buttons that drive the action. As carer for the mother, she bucks at the expectation that she will care for the father too. Her perpetually busy mother-of-two (with another on the way) sister Kate tends to be on the defensive in the caring debate. Sarah Loxley, though, makes her believable and easy to relate to, despite her reticence. There’s an engaging, complex, shifting chemistry between the two women. As the brother, Pete, Chris Turner really evokes the sort of bloke you probably wouldn’t even leave in charge of his own life. 

The parents’ characters, though effectively portrayed by Jennie Dibley and Dave Kirkham, aren’t as engaging; though would one really expect that from the life lamentations of a newly diagnosed cancer patient, and the repetitive ramblings of a man with Alzheimer’s. They don’t get much of the humour either. Their scenes do, though, help provide a textured, slow release understanding of the past, revealing why the siblings might be reluctant to care for the father. There’s a contrast, too, with the cracking pace and energy of the scenes with the children.

Tap is one of those small, back room, ‘Off-Off-Broadway’ fringe venues which have all but vanished from Sydney. In that space, designer Brad Loxley effectively created a very credible corner of family suburbia; an ideal home for the action.

Worthy and engaging independent theatre!

Neil Litchfield