Angel Gear: La Boîte Theatre Company - Review

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Tue 14 Oct 2014 - Sat 08 Nov 2014

Playwright Sven Swenson's fast paced, action packed thriller Angel Gear is currently playing at La Boîte Theatre .



The play follows sweetly spoken Gary, who has come to Australia to meet his father for the first time as an adult. His mother had fled to England with him when he was four, with good reason… When Gary arrives at the dysfunctional commune on the outskirts of Brisbane he is met with his two half brothers, their housemates as well as prostitution, drugs and the prospect of death.

When you first walk into the theatre the set appears to be a simple outback carport, adorned with pizza boxes and other rubbish, but after a more in-depth examination my theatre companion and I started to notice some other items on the stage; such as the condom pinned to the dartboard, the bong on the table and then we took turns trying to read the naughty stickers on the rusty fridge.



The characters in the play reflected the set: dirty, risqué and crude, which is exactly what they were supposed to be. Whilst all the actors did an amazing job at taking on these roles, there were a number of really stand out performances.

Casey Woods' character Jayanee was introduced in the first act as a classless, swearing machine, who as the play continued, came to show incredible depth. It was wonderful to watch her transformation throughout the play and by the end the audience felt attached to her plight.



Unfortunately on the night we saw Angel Gear, Sven Swenson who plays Edge had taken ill and the Assistant Director, James Trigg stepped up into Sven's role. He apologised at the beginning and warned us that with only ten minutes warning, he was going to need to read from the script throughout the performance. However his dedication to the role meant that during the shocking second act I honestly didn't even realise that he was reading from a script. If with a few moments notice a crew member can step up and create such an amazing character, I can only image how great the show must be with its cast left intact.

The Queensland based humour, which had our Brisbane audience giggling throughout the first half, disappeared in the second act, when the dark side of the play took over. Without giving anything away, I will say that theatre is meant to push boundaries and start conversations and Angel Gear definitely does this. After sitting in a shocked silence for a few moments upon the end of the performance, my head swirled with ideas and statements regarding all the topics written on the warning signs as you enter the theatre; domestic violence, racism, incest, rape and murder.



The confronting nature of this dark and action packed thriller means Angel Gear is for adults' eyes only… do you think you can handle it?Directors Brian Lucas & Sven Swenson

Designer Matthew Dickie

Composer Sven Swenson
Vocal Arrangements Brent Lammas
Piano Arrangements Peter Crees
Sound Designer Phil Slade
Fight Director Nigel Poulton

with
**Zachary Boulton
Michael Deed
Stephen Geronimos
Kieran Law
Cindy Nelson
Sam Plummer
Daniel Stockwell
Sven Swenson
Casey Woods**

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!date 14/10/2014 -- 08/11/2014
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