The play opens to the hauntingly beautiful voice of Eloise Quinn-Valentine in the role of Phaedra who unknown at the time has gone missing.
We are invited into the remains of what appears to be one hell of a party. The local council on behalf of the townsfolk are desperately trying to evict one Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron played by Brant Eustice. They arrive at his humble abode to tape eviction orders to the door. From this point on, the pace does not slow and the audience barely has a chance to catch its breath. We are introduced to an eclectic, ragtag bunch of characters all with their own issues and reasons for hanging out in the woods at the home of Johnny. When we finally get to meet Johnny, it is apparent that he is anti-establishment, anti-rules, anti-hypocrisy and anti anything that is too hard work.
The hypocrisy gets you right from the start. The very people who are trying to evict Johnny are the same people who turn up at his door to buy booze, drugs or just to party. You would think with these sorts of morals that sympathy for Johnny would be hard to find, but for all his lying, big-noting and fanciful tales, he is a lovable almost Peter Pan like character who chooses not to grow up and be part of a society that hides so many secrets.
Johnny’s best friend and stalwart advocate is Ginger played by Robert Bell with other characters including Benjamin Quirk as Lee, Ashley Penny as Pea, Harper Robb as Tanya, Oliver Reschke as Davey and the oh so cute Jonathan Pole as Marky.
The most confrontational character of the show is Troy Whitworth played by Alan Fitzpatrick. He is the step-father of the missing Phaedra and believes Johnny is responsible for her disappearance whilst Johnny in turn believes Troy is abusing Phaedra.
The many twists and turns in the play keep everyone on their toes and leave the audience questioning “Where is anyone safe anymore?”.
A powerful presentation with clever set and lighting, and wonderful direction by Nick Fagan.
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