You’ve Got Hate Mail

You’ve Got Hate Mail
By Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore. Brisbane Arts Theatre. Directed by Braydon Mengel. August 3 – 11, 2018

This hilarious comedy of errors looks at the world of on-line hook-ups and breakups in this age of online communication. Disaster occurs when a juicy e-mail is sent to the wrong address. The play is told entirely through laptop computers, along with the occasional phone call to add to the mayhem. This proved to be very amusing to the audience as they learnt about the modern world of courtship and sexual relationships (with the extreme language associated with this).

Director Braydon Mengel has assembled a strong, diverse cast that maintained the atmosphere well. There was very little movement as each character sat at a desk reading the e-mails being sent to the audience. A small spot light was shone on each actor when communicating and this worked well, with the occasional blip.

Darren King played Richard, the sexually wayward husband, with clarity and strength but perhaps a little over the top at times. The strength of the play was in the performances of Miriam McKenzie as the wife Stephanie, Emma Reynolds as the sex object Wanda, and Victoria Costa as the alcoholic, supposedly, loyal friend Peg. Jon Darbro was supposedly the friend to everyone, but that depends on what you understand of the term “friend”.

Congratulations to the Arts Theatre for presenting such a humorous, but challenging play. If you go to see it, and I think you should, be prepared. How the times have changed.

William Davies

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.