Arts

Theatre Review: Toyer

A single, female, psychiatrist, has just returned home to her small house in Randall Canyon, in the Hollywood hills. She locks up behind her, as a psychopath is roaming the Canyon, not killing women, but rendering them lobotomized and paralyzed.

Presented by Leading Line Productions & Tony Knight Productions
Reviewed 18th January 2018

A single, female, psychiatrist, has just returned home to her small house in Randall Canyon, in the Hollywood hills. She locks up behind her, as a psychopath is roaming the Canyon, not killing women, but rendering them lobotomized and paralyzed.  A man knocks on her door. And so begins a night of psychological games.

Playwright Gardner McKay’s professional background in television acting, shines through in this script, which would make a perfect TV play. It is a sharply written, blackly comic psycho-sexual thriller. It certainly doesn’t plumb any great depths, and lacks psychological authenticity. But it makes for an enjoyable evening in the theatre, despite all that. In some ways, it is a rather old-fashioned play: a kind of Monkey’s Paw with sexy lingerie.

Stefanie Rossi as Maude, brings a luminous beauty to the role. Marc Clement as Peter is suitably menacing and dripping with the cheeky charisma that always makes for complications. The two play well off each other. I would just like to see them relax and lean into the eroticism a little more, which I am sure will happen as the season progresses.

Ably directed by Tony Knight, this play is full of dark laughs, horror and moments of quaint charm.

And at just over an hour, it is a short, sharp, delightful piece of entertainment.

Reviewed by Tracey Korsten
Twitter: @TraceyKorsten

Venue:  Bakehouse Theatre
Season:  Jan 17th-20th, 24th-27th
Duration:  70 mins
Tickets:  $ 28-33
Bookings:  https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=335673

www.bakehousetheatre.com/shows/toyer

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