Dark Knight of the Soul

In my opinion, a well-executed play must succeed in two things; to forge an emotional connection with the performers and truly “hook” the audience with thoughtful and well-paced story development.

The Toowoomba Repertory Society’s Dark Knight of the Soul: 2 One-Act Plays ticked both of these boxes and provided a very enjoyable night of live performance.

The show featured The Donahue Sisters by Geraldine Aaron and Avatar by Mark Lucas.

The macabre tale of The Donahue Sisters centres on three estranged sisters whose lives were impacted by a dark event from their past, which they re-enact whenever they come together in their family home. Toowoomba performers Kylie Zadow (Annie), Marianne Buchannan (Denise/Dunya) and Beth Geoghegan (Rosie) more than met the challenge of this difficult ensemble piece, demonstrating strong rapport and near-perfect synchronisation. Their characters were well developed, as was their lilting Irish brogue and ability to jointly portray their victim in his deliciously obscene and terrifying final scenes.

After a brief intermission, Avatar continued the murderous theme of the evening with a lighter tone and some much-needed laughter. It also introduced a fresh set and new performers to the stage - Mez as the murderously duplicitous best friend Charlotte, Kate McCormack debuting to the Toowoomba stage as Anastasia and Stewart Limpus as Virgil, the inept and conflicted burglar/saint of virgins. 

This humorous tale of betrayal, murder, near-misses, sword/umbrella fighting and romance was well cast, with Kate believably naïve and Mez a laconically heinous villain. However, the bouquet must go to Stewart, whose bumbling qualities, brilliant accent, comedic timing and strong connection with the characters and the audience felt effortless throughout. 

There were some parts of the play that seemed to lack energy, for example, when Virgil is pushed out of the window and the two friends are discussing his fate. The sword and umbrella fight was a little unconvincing, but it’s always a challenge to pull off fight scenes effectively in an intimate theatre space.

Simple yet effective costume and set design (Beth Geoghegan and Neil Melville) combined with good lighting (Bob Horstman and Ashlee Stewart) and sound operation (Sam Nash) added to the enjoyment of both plays.

 The Toowoomba Repertory Society plans to take these works to compete in the Ipswich One Act Play Festival in August, and I wish the society all the best in its endeavours.

Madeleine Tiller

Photographer: Ian Day.