Adventurously witty comedies by local playwrights are uncommon in Newcastle.
If there is a certain bravery required in attempting to stage one then Jack Madden and Talahiva Crofts certainly have it. But Madden would probably be the last to admit that.
Like his newish play, Friday the 14th, written several years ago but only premiering in Newcastle at Brunker Community Theatre a week ago, his talent has arrived as a delight and a surprise.
And I say surprise simply because Madden delivers, in both his authorship and his direction, an unapologetically twisted piece of comedy.
And I say incongruous because this is undoubtedly a clever play that at the same time tries its best to deny it.
Cloaked in a campy, teeny and inevitably blood-soaked disguise, it pokes itself in the ribs before suddenly driving a blade through the young flesh between them. It doesn't just rip into the schlock horror genre. It also has a go at those that have come to satirise it. It's a send-up of a send-up. Bristling with cruel intentions and a skincare obsession.
Perhaps it's easier to start at the end of the play. You know there is an alchemy at the fore when the cast are shamelessly laughing at the silliness of their own stuff-ups. When a lady cop in aviators bursts into view, looking as though the Terminator just swallowed Nicky Minaj, and then confesses that she arrived onto the stage too early, the woman across from me almost choked on her Jatz and cheese.
It is a nothing mistake, disguised by a kind of sassy, kiss-hello-bravado. But at the same time it's an everything moment. Now even the actors are taking it out of themselves. It's riotous.
It isn't nearly enough that Madden keeps jabbing away at every vacuous horror trope that still exists, he's managed to drag his performers along for the ride as well.
Not every joke hits the circle. How could it? In this sort of try-anything comedic experiment it's not the accuracy that matters. It's funnier to miss the mark, stare down the audience and poke fun at the obsolescence of their expectations.
This is not to say that the performances were in any way wayward. Far from it.
Katie Matthews as Hannah was a definite stand-out. Hannah Richens as Jamie-Lee (and others) was also excellent.
Jay Wood pulls off a bitchy Jesus Christ and a prying, psychopathic Birdface. I'm not even kidding. Prying.
Thomas Henry as Liam was hilarious, seemingly adrift in the pointlessness of all the commotion before repeatedly spilling the best lines at everyone else's worst moments.
Even without the Jesus and Mary pep talk, the ouija board summoning of an Energy Australia call centre, a rotary phone meltdown and a karaoke Christian devotional there would still be bewildered giggles all through this show.
I'm still laughing just thinking about it. By resisting the universal urge to take itself too seriously, or to somehow strive to avoid its worst, this play ripens into a homegrown dose of irreverence at its best.
Friday the 14th, by Jack Madden and Talahiva Crofts, 8pm on Friday, October 14, and 8pm on Saturday, October 15, at Brunker Community Theatre, Adamstown.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
