The Devil's Caress - Review

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Fri 23 Mar 2018 - Sat 14 Apr 2018

Factory Space Theatre Company presented a celebration of the life and works of Melbourne crime writer June Wright at the Star of the Sea Theatre in Manly.

June Wright is our very own Agatha Christie. Her first murder mystery outsold Agatha Christie in Australia! The Devil's Caress is the very first stage performance in celebration of Wright's work.

The Devil's Caress is a psychological thriller based on the book by the same name by June Wright, which in turn was inspired by the saying 'Doubt is the Devil's Caress.'



The play is set on an isolated clifftop home on a 'fictional' peninsula in Victoria. As the waves crash and winds howl, the guests begin to arriveÂ… the play takes you on a dangerous dose of fiction and fact as well as a tale of doubt, doctors and dead bodies Â…

Dr. Marsh Mowbray (Sarah Moon) visits this clifftop peninsula town, unaware of the events that are about to occur. Marsh is the young bright medical graduate who looks up to the stately Dr. Katherine 'Dr. Kate' Waring (Capri Walsh) as her mentor and role model. Uncannily, within the 24-hours of Mowbray's arrival, someone from the household is found dead. Soon after, another suspicious death occurs and Marsh begins to doubt the innocence of her beloved mentor.



In this tale of doubt, madness and the burden of responsibility, Marsh finds herself in a race against time to prove that her beloved mentor, Dr. Kate is not a murderer.

Could it be true? Could such a brilliant woman commit murder? A mysterious stranger in town warns Mowbray: 'Doubt is the Devil's caress.'

The play features a twist that the story is interwoven with the life of June Wright herself. And so we see the two worlds: 'The World of The Devil's Caress' and 'The World of June Wright'.



June's World is in post-war Melbourne and is colourful with energy, activity and duty. Women, who have taken on new responsibilities during the war, are relegated once more to the home. Husbands catch the train to work anf wives sweep the verandas. It is a world of domesticity. She cares for six children, including a son with a severe intellectual disability and a husband with declining health.

She is an intelligent, creative woman in need of escape from that world. She discovers writing and she points out so delightfully to Australasian Post journo F.M. Doherty in 1979: 'Obviously, you know nothing of the homicidal instincts sometimes aroused in a mother by her children. After a particularly exasperating day, it is a relief to murder a few characters in your book instead.'



The play continues as she places Dr. Marsh Mowbray in this new world of shifting times, locations, characters and loyalties and sends her off.

The play features quotes from various newspapers of the day and excerpts from June Wright's book Remembering Melbourne: circa 1950.

This stage adaptation is a spectacular fusion of the life and times of the very talented June Wright, with her most ambitious novel.



The cast did a stellar job executing the play with such brilliance! Alexandria Chambers (June), Ned Law (Dr. Shane Parnell), Adam Golledge (Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Gair), Lewis Scamozzi (Mr. Todd Bannister), Luke W. Shepherd (Mr. Michael Waring), Colette Estelle (Miss. Annie Jennet) , Tanya Monahan (Miss. Evelyn Peterson), Elke Baden (Mrs. Delia Arkwright) and Simon Anthony (Surgeon-Commander Henry Arkwright), along with Sarah Moon (Dr. Marsh Mowbray) and Capri Walsh (Dr. Katherine 'Dr. Kate' Waring) did a marvellous job and certainly bought justice to June Wright's work!

Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

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!date 23/03/2018 -- 14/04/2018
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