27/07/2017
Thank you so much to for the wonderful review! (We've pasted it below).
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"Mauritius ( New Theatre, Sure Foot Productions )
One of the most purely entertaining stage dramas in Sydney '17 to date: a caper thriller/drama that’s cleverly plotted and crisply staged and acted, Theresa Rebeck’s “United” Sates- set story grows from two sisters by marriage who crash back into each-others lives following the death of their mother. The mess of their relationship won’t be easily tided up, but a family stamp collection may help solve some of the finances. Jackie (Kitty Hopwood), fresh from death watch caring duties and possibly recovered from a life of vague disobedience (juvie crime), wants to sell up, or at least get a valuation, Forget the at home resistance from Mary (Emma Louise), who claims ownership and sentimental anchor to those possibly valuable colourful bits of paper… the problems really begin outside the house, like many an experiment escaping the lab into reality. See, Grandfather may just have the Holy stamp collecting Grail in his album, and that attracts three people you don’t want to deal with – in every sense as Jackie, a lamb with teeth and a rough streak she’s trying to hide goes into deep waters with nasty stamp collecting big fish. Denis (Peter-William Jamieson) is a hustler who swallowed “… For Dummies” books on “Negotiation”, “Playing People”; Philip (Andy Simpson) is the world’s most bored and arrogant stamp dealer with his eye of a con. The shark with a hard core stamp fettish is Sterling, a hulking, big time criminal with a shady background, calm cultured negotiation speeches, and a menacing aroma of “Don’t get in my way” (a role that could have been written for the great Tommy Lee Jones in full-blown bad guy mode, here filled superbly by Brett Heath). Rebeck moves the characters through double/triple/need-more-fingers-and-toes crosses of verbal (and beyond) sparring and brawls, as Jackie – for all her faults, easily the most honest of the bunch - tries to negotiate her way to a jackpot by putting on a (brittle) hard-target shell: her negotiations with Sterling, a twig trying to stand up to – or at least, bend - a mighty oak tree (with teeth) are the painfully gripping high points of many nail bitter encounters. Setting out to entertain with smart storing telling, and staged by director/producer Richard Cornally with his cast and creative team for Sure Foot Productions with a keen sense of how to hold suspense – and then take it that agonizing “there go the fingernails…” moment extra, Mauritius is pretence and message free – and bright, hugely enjoyable – and gripping - fun.
New Theatre (Newtown, Sydney): 12-29 July 2017
https://www.facebook.com/NewTheatreSydney/
https://newtheatre.org.au/
www.surefootproductions.com
https://www.facebook.com/surefootproductions/ "
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