Kashmir Sinnamon – Theatre Press

Inviting strangers to play

By Myron My

North of Eight is Melbourne’s new theatre company on the block and they return this month with their second show of their inaugural season, Gardner McKay’s Toyer. The Australian premiere of this psychological thriller takes place over roughly 24 hours with a stranger entering a woman’s life at a time when the city is being terrorised by a man who rapes his victims before lobotomising them.

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Maude (Faran Martin) is a clinical psychiatrist who lives alone in her LA home in the hills and has recently drawn the attention of an unknown voyeur who watches her in the evenings. Peter (Kashmir Sinnamon) is a stranger who has just repaired Maude’s car and needs to use her phone to call his friend. With the “toyer” on the loose, so-called because he toys with his victims before he attacks, it might not be the safest option to let Peter inside, but he’s charming and friendly and makes Maude laugh, so should the risk outweigh the temptation?

Originally published in the early 90s, this play is unfortunately beginning to show its age, and what might have constituted suspenseful and dramatic material originally now results in frustration and disbelief at how the narrative progresses and the decisions the characters make. Coming in at just over two hours, the story becomes repetitive especially with the initial game of ‘will he or won’t he leave?’, and ‘is he or isn’t he the toyer?’ quickly wearing thin. There are some preposterous plot twists that occur, whereupon by the time the truth is revealed, there is very little surprise or interest to be had, and nor do we care what the fate of these characters will be.

While there is some thoughtful direction by Sarah Hallam that allows the actors time to fully comprehend the circumstances their characters find themselves in, there are moments when Martin’s performance seems too theatrical and the emotions her character expresses feel somewhat forced. Maude never feels genuine in her terror, the fault of which lies mainly with her character development in the story. However, there are instances when Sinnamon brings darker human elements to the surface with Peter that are able to ignite some interest from the audience – yet even this achievement can only be maintained for so long with this character before it starts to become predictable.

It really feels like McKay was so determined to create a thriller with Toyer that he ignored plot holes and the character development that could have kept his protagonists interesting and intriguing. Unfortunately the hard-working performances here suffer because of this, and there is unfortunately very little suspense to be felt. As a new theatre company, it would be great to see North of Eight performing more inspiring and contemporary works rather than this decades-old play that demands a lot from its audience and actors with very little pay-off.

Venue: The Courthouse Hotel 86 Errol St, North Melbourne.

Season: Until 13 May | Tue – Sat 8pm
Tickets: $28 Full | $22 Conc
Bookings: North of Eight

Image by Arun Munoz Photography

Compelling tale of a crime lord and his cohorts

By Myron My

Being a leader is not the easiest thing. Especially when you are a leader of a mob group or crime syndicate and have to determine who is genuinely looking out for your safety and to constantly second-guess in whom you can put your trust. In Bitten By Productions’ The Last Supper, crime lord Dorian is facing these problems. What follows is an evening of truths being spoken, lies and deception being revealed, and an examination of the extremes to which people will go to be a leader and claim power.

Dorian (Gregory Caine) has invited his most inner circle to a meeting: his “trusted” associates and partners. Those invited include his brother Brody (Karl Sarsfield), Madam President, Claudia (Ashley Tardy), the Head of Intelligence, Novak (Kashmir Sinnamon) and the Chief of Police, Vaughan (Christopher Grant). Once Dorian is finished with his interrogations, this may indeed be the last supper for some of them, as failure to perform their jobs results in death.

Gabriel Bergmoser‘s script has some great moments of tension, especially between Brody and Dorian, and the build-up to the conclusion is quite compelling. Bergmoser’s language is highly descriptive and the scene where Dorian retells the story of the pool of glass is so vivid and feels so real that the visuals created in my mind were highly intense. However, this narrative flashback feature is also the difficulty I had with the structure of The Last Supper: the many conversations about past events referencing at least half a dozen non-present characters. At some points, it felt like we were spending too much time focusing on the past than on the present, and not working with these interesting characters actually on stage.

With The Last Supper being seen as a conclusion to a loose trilogy by Bitten By Productions, I wonder – despite being told it is not necessary – if having seen Below Babylon and Beyond Babylon would have made this narrative easier to follow.

Sarsfield brings lots of emotion and honesty with the nervous Brody, who is eager to break free from the life of crime and be a good husband and father. As the story progresses, this desperation to lead a normal life is handled capably by Sarsfield. Similarly, Sinnamon and Grant do well with their supporting roles, each bringing their respective characters to life quite convincingly.

Despite some extremely powerful monologues, I felt some of Caine’s emotional responses as Dorian did not always feel authentic and his motivations and actions were not always clear or seemed to contradict themselves. Tardy does a great job as Claudia, but unfortunately fails to bring credibility to the character. I feel this is more a casting issue though, as she appeared to be too young for the role.

Less than a year ago, I watched Bergmoser’s Reunion and I saw potential in his writing. The Last Supper is clearly far more ambitious than this previous play, but fortunately there has also been a strong improvement in his skill as a writer. Even with the somewhat confusing and discursive narrative structure, the suspense, and the pay-off for the audience at the end, is worth it.

Venue: My Handlebar, 581 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.

Season: Until 16 May | Wed-Sat 7:30pm

Tickets: $20 Full | $18 Conc

Bookings: www.gabrielbergmoser.com