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Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo
until 10 May
Bookings: 1300 438 849
Jay Ryan, an actor originally from west Auckland, plays Shayne (the fly young guy in the photo) in Dianna Fuemana’s The Packer. Fuemana is also a ‘westie’ and as it happens, half-Niuean and half-American Samoan.
The director, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, is another westie and has most likely supported the Campbelltown Kangas at some time in his life.
All three have their left-side-of-the-map stories and in this dramatic one-man show they want to capture the multicultural milieu and perhaps challenge some racial stereotypes, but mostly they have decided to take the audience on one helluva ride!
If you have managed to tear your eyes away from the photo of Jay Ryan you may be interested to know that, apart from playing Shayne, a factory worker with problematic family ties, he has another seven characters up his sleeve.
During the frenetic hour-and-a-half-long show we meet Shayne’s gin-soaked mother, his reckless sexually-confused friend, an ex with a hankering for childcare dilemmas, a cool and clever Niuean girl and her randy dad, as well as a towering black trannie and an oddball Indian taxi driver.
They are all intriguing characters in intense relationships with one another and Fuemana has them often appearing in two and three-hander scenes.
This proves quite a workout for Ryan and while he exerts much effort to portray very different personas and achieves lightning quick transformations, director and actor have relied too much on externals.
I’m sure Taylor and Ryan know these people well, but with the exception of the central character, I never felt they tapped into the nerve, wit and emotional space of these individuals. The women are the least successful characterisations, each with the same mincing walk and shrill queeny voice, but then the trannie hooker is a terrific creation.
There were times when Ryan’s performance caught me off guard and I enjoyed those moments of feeling uncomfortable, but too often I felt I was watching something well choreographed rather than acted.
Still, the show is hugely entertaining and the audience loved it. Ryan has a charismatic personality and amazing energy, which the piece showcases well. Fuemana writes superbly and has the ability to make us laugh at the seamier side of life. This is only her third play and I look forward to seeing more of her work produced.
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