★★★☆
Eddie Perfect’s The Beast hasunleashed itself on Sydney audiences after achieving critical acclaim during its debut for the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2013.
Perfect’s first offering as a playwright is a feast for the eyes and ears, and it comes complete with lashings of satire, irony, and sharp social and moral commentary, combined with a healthy dose of slapstick humour.
Inspired by the true events that unfolded after Perfect and his wife Lucy Cochran embarked on their own tree change to Healesville in the Yarra Valley, the story centres around three 30-something, middle-class couples determined to make the most of their new surroundings, while ultimately attempting to achieve a sustainable lifestyle – and matching everything with the right vintage.
The ensemble cast of characters includes Sue, the overbearing, self-appointed queen of all things on trend (superbly played by Heidi Arena), and her husband Rob, an emasculated peacemaker brought to life by the genius of Toby Truslove. Their friends are Simon (Rohan Nichol), a smarmy, pretentious narcissist, and his wife Gen, a ditzy, downtrodden, ticking time bomb dealing with her husband’s infidelity by popping pills, played faultlessly by Christie Whelan Browne.
Then there’s the outsiders of the pack – Marge (Alison Bell) the sarcastic, fish-out-of-water who appears to be the only realist of the group, and her husband, quadruple-denim-wearing ‘former bogan’ Baird (only Perfect himself could pull off that look) who is hell-bent on impressing his new friends.
The plot is thick with everything from murder, intrigue and infidelity to hints of a cover-up and cannibalism. Perfect himself says of his creation: “I wrote this play because I enjoyed digging down into these fractured characters, these middle-class folk who are cobbled together with pieces of myself, my fantasies, my friends, my failings and my bad choices writ large.”
Directed by Simon Phillips, all in all the production proves totally on target in this nose-to-tail comedy. Special mention to Peter Houghton, who takes on multiple roles, filling the positions of the seasick skipper, the underestimated yet overqualified mansitter, the vigeron, and finally Farmer Brown, the homegrown hero who, with a little help from CSI: Miami, forces the men to admit to their partners a thinly veiled secret. And to all those with tickets for the first few rows, it does get messy – you’ve been warned.
Photo: (L to R) Alison Bell and Eddie Perfect. Credit: Ken Nakanishi
The Beast is playing at the Sydney Opera House until Sunday August 21. More information is available here.
